Singing to Your Twisted Melody
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: Each memory is another stab in the back, another pain, another reason to break down, but I won't. I don't know what really happened back there. I failed, but I don't know what went on after I'd left them behind. So maybe... Just maybe... I didn't fail...
1. Prologue

**A/N: okay, this was an original story that I wrote. Kevin was actually used as a base for the character [also called Kevin (but his real name was Kingston which was just a spur of the moment thing which I also had to edit out)] but I found a slightly altered plotline that fits and I had to add a bit and edit a LOT and now… yeah, it's beautiful. I just loved this and now I can finally get it down. I'll fill in tiny details here and there for the original plotline (if anyone cares).**

**So enjoy the prologue!!! I wrote it on my iTouch (I can micromanage!).**

**Disclaimer: yada yada yada. Don't own Alien Force or Ben 10, but you will definitely know what I do own in this story.**

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**_Singing To Your Twisted Melody_**

_I used to sing to your twisted symphony  
The words that had me dropped inside your misery  
But now I know the reason why I couldn't breathe_

_~'Everything You're Not', Demi Lovato_

**Prologue**

**Kevin's POV**

I dropped to the floor of the garage. My wrench had hardly slipped from my hands, but yet it had clattered to the floor with a harsh banging sound that resonated through the entire garage. Metallic and cold. It was quiet and kind of lonely. I'm used to being alone, so this is nothing perfectly new to me. I was always taught silence was golden.

For me, it's like murder. The memories come back in waves that turn to floods and lead into tsunamis and I have nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear is not good when you've got everything in the world to run from.

Loneliness is lethal and I fear every moment that I am left alone. I don't want to be alone, but yet I don't want to be with others that I can let down. In this garage, I never want to be alone. I never want to feel those rapids pounding down upon my chest and mind, threatening to consume me with this new memory that has been so much like a fresh wound lately.

Her smiles had been so pure and each one brought back that melody. Her bright green eyes distracted my attention for only so long before I was taken under those waves of longing once more. I drown each time in these unseen agonies that eat me alive from the inside out. She was inticive and slaughtering me at the same time, drowning me in guilt, but pulling me back up to dunk me beneath the surface once again only moments later with another gesture or smile or glint of her seductive eyes.

This melody keeps on replaying itself. And it won't go away. It should've ended. But the melody goes on.

Her hair smells strongly of cotton candy. I didn't even know until recently and somehow this only stabs the knife deeper. It strengthens the pain, driving it deeper and harder.

In my memories, her eyes are dark shades of the same color, each reflecting cold white light from the streets of New York lights. Those streaks are one color, not the one I thought, shining beneath the moon. I cannot believe I forget all these little things that I really should've remembered.

The silence caused it to drag out for a long time, aching and echoing and bringing back more pain than I could've imagined. I grabbed the wrench from the ground and threw it as hard as I could against the wall and it left a huge dent with cracks in the plaster and metal beneath it. This is what I wished I could've let out before I let it happen. I didn't want to watch, but I had to. I didn't want to bring them to it, but I had to. When it's life or death, try as hard as you can and make sure you don't look back. Ever.

There's a reason I stay distanced from others. I don't want to hurt them. I could kill Gwen without the slightest of hesitation. She doesn't understand how strong I really am when I want to be. I could crush her with one fist. My imagination took that image as I thought of it and seared it into my mind. I couldn't forget. I couldn't.

I don't want to lose them. Gwen and Ben don't truly realize how long I've been out of the Null Void. They just know I got out. But I've been out for awhile now and I lived back in the subways for almost a year before I came back to Bellwood. One trade and I become a hero instead of the most feared alien on Earth. I could still probably mutate. If I wanted to. But I would never go back to that.

The worst part is that melody. That twisted melody. It will not stop. It will not end. I lost it once and now I need to let it go. But it's haunting me, attacking me now, no longer the comfort it had once been at every caressing touch and soft murmur from before.

I was the world to one person. That was how it used to be. That was how it was before. I didn't want to go back to that, responsibility weighing too heavy on my shoulders and pounding my head in and making it harder to breathe and get through.

In this silence some days, I can reflect on it and think how stupid I was for giving in to that kind of life for so long and then just letting it take over completely and then suck me in like the Null Void did. This melody plays on. It brings a wave of hurt, knowing I was capable of letting someone down, the person who relied on me more than anyone else in the world. Able to twist me to any way they wanted.

That's why I changed. That's why I can't get close to Gwen. That's why I can't let them in. If they knew some things, they wouldn't see me any other way ever again and I'd be stuck with these lies and this pain and knowing that I let them down too. I can never go through with that again. I won't watch someone else suffer because I wasn't good enough. I was never good enough for anyone and this is why I leave everyone that I have ever cared about.

Why the melody chooses to come back now, I don't know, but it's as loud as ever. I want to cry, but that only makes it worse. It makes that pain real and true and I will not give in. I can't. I have to move on, just like I've been doing for my entire life.

I had been out of the Null Void for a year. I had a life before I joined Ben and Gwen. I had a life before I was dragged back into the world of illegal trade like some captive. I knew it was too good to be true and it wasn't going to end in a good way. But I never imagined it to end anything like that...

Watching that was probably the worst I had ever felt in _years_.

The old scars from before are torn by new weapons, new threats, and new losses. This melody... It won't shut up. And it won't go away. Unless I can let go.

And I can't.

**A/N: alrite, this wasn't the /best/ prologue, but I liked it & it's a good setup for the next chappie AS SOOOOONNNNNNN as I figure out how to start this up. Lol. I got most of it planned out, but from here, I'm lost. Just gotta get a good start and it /should/ launch from there. Gunna b hard on Gwen to survive this one… give me sum ideas to start this off. I know where I'm going for a bittt. Review to help!**

**~Sky**


	2. Seeing

**A/N: wrote this off my iPod Touch! It's **_**hard**_**!!! and did only minor edits when put on here. it's hard!**

**Disclaimer: you know what I own and what I don't. updated this just to get the song on.**

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_Can you help me out?  
__Can you lend me a hand?  
__It's safe to say,  
__That I'm stuck again._

_~'Rain', Creed_

**Seeing**

I revved the engine. It stuttered before ripping loose a snarling rumble, sounding like a jungle cat ready for the hunt. Dangerous and fierce. I have such a great car.

The wheels skidded as I ripped out of the garage faster than I should've. I raced through the streets, heading along to Gwen's to pick her up. She'd begged me enough to go out with her that I finally found the heart to give in (that, and I had nothing better to do on a Saturday night with Ben out of town and nothing good to watch on tv).

So we were going to Mr. Smoothy for a few hours to hang out, just the two of us for once. Not like aliens didn't decide to attack almost everyday. It was rare for us not to have some sort of conflict. I kept on thinking something would go wrong. Something had to go wrong. It was too good to be true. Everything for me at that point was too good to be true. Friends. My car. My mom and sister. An actual place to want to call home.

I was only a few blocks away. Gwen's house was only a corner away and I was ready just to sit at a bench and laugh at something stupid with her. Probably Ben. He was always stupid.

A shadow moved. I slammed on the brakes, finding it too good to not be an attack. But it was gone in less than an instant. Just an alley. Just a shadow. No movement. At all. Something was there once, but not anymore. Probably a cat. Stupid cat.

Hitting the gas again, I knew I was just paranoid. Stupid tricks of the mind.

I say 'stupid' a lot, don't I?

But at the next alley, there was another flash of blonde hair streaked with caramel that shone like a beacon out of the darkness, but this time I didn't dare stop. It was just another illusion of mine. I had a vivid imagination once. No reason for it not to kick back up again.

Gwen's house couldn't be close enough. I just wanted to get her so that I wasn't alone anymore. So that if I saw that again, I wouldn't be the only one. I didn't want to be going crazy, but I didn't want to be seeing a real attack either. But the good news was, I was about 90% sure that it wasn't Charmcaster or her alter ego, Caroline. Blonde didn't narrow down the playing field much though. It left… still a whole lot of people.

I finally caught sight of Gwen's house and let out and inward sigh of relief. I wasn't going to be alone forever. I was moving on. I was surviving. I was going to make it without being deemed utterly insane. I had someone close to me again, still there this time.

As usual, I pulled into the driveway and honked the horn, not in the mood to face her parents or her brother if he was home from college again. Not that I didn't like her family. Ben's alright, but her brother isn't the kind of guy I'd get along with real well and I just don't like hanging around her parents much because it's the definition of awkward. Her dad: doesn't like me. Her mom: likes me only a smidgen more than her dad does. And a smidgen is very, very, very, very small.

The front door opened slowly and her fiery red hair caught my sight as the porch lights lit up the entry. She gave a short wave and ran down the sidewalk that led up to the house. A second later, she dropped into the passenger seat next to me, caught her breath, and brushed a few strands of red out of her face before turning to face me with a brave smile. "Hey."

"Let's go," I said, returning a grin and putting the car in reverse. I craned my neck to check behind me and caught sight of that same blonde hair racing through the trees near Gwen's house. I wasn't going to say anything. There was no way she'd seen it. And I hardly believed these fleeting figures myself. With a blink, it was gone and I pressed down the gas, ready to hit up Mr. Smoothy with Gwen.

I was just paranoid. That's how I convinced myself.

But I was so wrong.

"Are you distracted or something?" Gwen asked at the table by Mr. Smoothy. She fingered the cup that sat in front of her, running her nails around the rim.

The metal tabletop was cool beneath my fingertips, which I thrummed against the table with slight annoyance. Maybe I was just seeing things. I had to be. More than once I'd seen another flash of skin or hair or a set of milky brown eyes, but each was gone before I could check the details. I had to check before I took off. "Kinda. Sorry," I replied, my apology sounding weak. I'd taken her out on something kind of like a date, but yet I couldn't keep myself focused on her. Normally, she was my every thought, but lately I'd been having this really bad feeling... Real bad.

Blame it on the paranoia. Yup, that'll work.

"What's wrong?" she asked, reaching out to touch my hand with her soft, smooth skin. Her green eyes were trying to pierce through my mind and I couldn't tell what she wanted to know. A thousand questions bubbled inside her mind, but she knew I had at least _some_ limits.

I didn't want to tell her. I knew the memories would be too painful if I shared them with her. Painful for me anyways. If I explained it, she wouldn't understand. I mean, if I told her she might grasp the simple concept of the life I had before. It wasn't _all_ illegal. It wasn't. And I don't think she'd believe me. That I had kept people close to me. Like family. And closer than that even.

"Kevin," she murmured. "I can help."

She didn't get it. She really didn't. "I don't think you can, Gwen. This one is a little harder to fix than just adding magic."

She gave me a sad smile, closing her hands around mine and I instantly stopped tapping on the tabletop. There were tiny dents where my fingers had repeatedly hit. "But you can always tell me." Gwen was such a comfort to hold close like that. "I'm always here for you, Kevin."

That was the hard part. Just getting Gwen to understand that I'd be fine with some time. She'd be able to cope with that, right? "I know, but this isn't really the sort of thing I need help with."

The darkness behind Gwen shifted and I put in an effort to keep my attention on her this time. Maybe if I was distracted, they would come from the shadows and mistakenly reveal themselves enough so that I knew I wasn't crazy. Once I knew I wasn't crazy, it'd be easy to pursue someone who isn't a figment of my stupid imagination. Stupid, stupid imagination. It picks the dumbest times, doesn't it?

"Are you sure?" Gwen questioned. She traced patterns on the back of my hand, her finger skating across my skin. Had to focus on her. Had to focus on her.

I gave a short nod and a little grin for her. "It's really complicated."

She let out a little sigh. Her red hair fell over one shoulder, highlighting her ivory skin. "I had a feeling you'd say that." Gwen only gave me a soft smile, knowing she needed to get off the topic. She knew me all too well. It made me sad that I couldn't tell her. She'd never understand the way things used to be for me.

Chocolate eyes gazed out of those shadows at me. That melody rang in my head, loud, clear, and painful. So sweet. So slow. So innocent. No one could've deserved what happened. I knew I wasn't the best person, but I didn't even need to see what happened. That memory came back clear.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had bolted up from the table and prepared for a long chase. This was going to be harder than I thought because those eyes were gone in an instant and I kept going.

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**A/N: okay, my personal charries will b introduced soon.**

**FUN FACT FOR THIS CHAPTER: in my original version of this, Kevin's real first name was Kingston. I thought that would b soooooo kewl. But not 4 our Kevie… oh well.**

**Review! Thanks! Bai!**

**~Sky**


	3. Capture

**A/N: I know I've been slow on occasssions. Sad news: vaca. The definition of next week. GOIN ON A CRUISEEE…. Gunna miss FanFic while im away. Don't worry. I'll keep a notebook for ideas and write it up on my iTouch. So beware of a major, MAJOR posting day as soon as I get back!! Leaving on Sunday. Mite not see 'The Final Battle' at this rate… haven't packed yet…**

**OH WELL! Back on topic. Alrite, I wrote this out and felt necessary to post it ASAP! Btw, forgot to put the song up on the last one. Culdn't find a song for it… also, kinda forgot… but i fixed it so it doesnt matter now**

**Disclaimer: take a chill pill. I'm not Man of Action. If I was, I'd make the series soooo much better...**

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_Well, your clothes never wear as well the next day,  
__And your hair never falls in quite the same way.  
__You never seem to run out of things to say._

_~ 'Absolutely' (Story of a Girl), Nine Days_

**Capture**

I ran for my life. Even if he doesn't look fast, Kevin's got some speedy wheels on him. When determined enough, I bet he could probably hit about five miles an hour. By the way he leapt over a table in his way at the smoothies place, I'd say he was determined. But that's just me talking.

Another advantage he had: he knew the streets. He'd been driving along them forever now, the rest of us long forgotten. Kevin picks up on things real fast. For me, I'm slow for anything. And getting around hadn't been exactly simple in the past twenty-four hours. It involved much hiding and running and sneaking around in bushes. My hair had to have enough twigs in it to build either a small birds nest or an itty bitty kindling fire of small burning embers.

His footsteps caught up to me, quick as lightning. Alright, maybe he could hit six mph. That was a scary thought. I grabbed a trash bag without stopping and chucked it back at him. I didn't falter a step. Lucky for me, I guess.

Sadly, neither did Kevin.

Had to give the guy credit. He was absolutely pissed. Good sign. Didn't expect me to be back, now did he?

I rounded a corner, catching a mere glimpse of him, Mr. Fast And Furious back there. He hadn't broken a sweat. And he was gaining pretty fast. Crap.

I did notice a few other things. His movements weren't swift as they used to be, not as clean cut or perfected. Like he was out of practice or something. His eyes burned with anger. That was expected though. And his face was twisted in a snarl. I thought I could hear a growl rip out of his throat. Either that, or some pretty deep and heavy panting. It was hard to tell.

Without dropping back in the slightest, I charged into the streets. The drivers of cars hit their horns and angry people yelled. What girl was dumb enough to run right out into the middle of the street during rush hour? Me. With good reason. There was and extremely pissed off Kevin Ethan Levin right on my tail. And that is a _perfect_ excuse to cut off a few cars. Sorry, dudes.

I glanced back. Kevin had jumped the hood of the car that nearl slammed into me. Extra crap. His legs did a polevault like thing over the hood, his hands supporting him. If he wasn't an alien hybrid or so intent on being a Plumber, I'd tell him to be an acrobat. Obviously, he wouldn't like that. Living with him for almost a year had taken a lot of getting used to. That, and he's vocal about what he likes and doesn't like.

Woah. He was a speed demon today. Maybe I picked the wrong day to get cocky. And to keep my hair not braided. If he caught my hair, I was dead. Mostly 'cause he'd rip out at least a fistful and that'd suck.

"Hey!" he called. I could hear his breath panted. He was running out of gas. Hallelujah. My savior. He never had the stamina of a runner. Not like me. I could've kept going at top speed for about a half hour straight and not staggered a bit. But I would've crashed real hard after that. Possibly even dropped dead on the spot. Either way, I was still capable of pulling it off.

I looked over my shoulder. His face was tired by now from the chase. His feet were skimming the ground at his fast jog. He was definitely going to crash nice and hard. I only caught a glimpse of his muscular body. I don't know what happened, but he wasn't the same guy that wanted to pack some serious ordinance in tech anymore. Instead, he was the guy who could actually fight his own way. Hand and fist. Tooth and claw.

Weird. I jumped the curb, hoping to head him off nearby. That didn't work. He was still right there the whole time, never falling more than two yards behind me. That was a feat within itself.

So I had to kick it into high gear. As my friends like to say, "Gotta kick it up a notch." Instead of slowing down or stopping altogether, I picked up the pace hitting top speed without any effort. I was naturally fast. A gift of mine. Not like I had much else to be proud of. Internally, I shrugged. What's a girl to do?

The next alley was darker, colder. The air tasted like it had been soaking up oily salt water for weeks and now sat in more darkness. Honestly, that was one of those alleys where you could imagine some creep jumping out of the shadows at you. Not like I was too scared. If anything like that happened, Kevin was still right behind me. No one would get too far with me. And if they did, I'd go down kicking and screaming.

"Wait up!" yelled Kevin. He was definitely wearing down.

A grin crept across my face. This was my chance for the final run. My last sprint. I'd be gone before he knew what was going on. But I didn't. I had come for a reason. Actually, I was sent for a reason. I make a brilliant distraction. Has anyone ever noticed? Of course not.

A wall of orange crashed down right in front of Kevin, clear but glowing. He bashed into it. Falling right over. Sometimes, he's hilarious. But being Kevin, I could imagine how badly that'd hurt. So I skidded to a halting stop, nearly tumbling over after slipping on the gravelly pebbles beneath my worn down sneakers. Kevin stared at me from where he lay on the ground. "Mandy?" he called, voice soft and disbelieving.

It was the first time he'd gotten a clear look at my face. Clinging to the shadows was my specialty and speed was a huge help on stuff like this. My blonde hair must've been a ragged mess, the pale brownish streaks making it look frizzy as always. My eyes had always been a warm chocolate color (that's what everyone always told me). Lately I'd heard they'd been turning lighter for some reason. It wasn't impossible, but it was a strange thing to hear. Not like I cared a whole lot.

"Mandy?" he asked again, finally realizing this wasn't some kind of dream or nightmare, but that this was his reality, the horror coming alive in his voice. One weathered hand reached up to run dry, cracked fingers covered in dust through his raven-colored hair. I really actually liked his hair. His voice was still breaking. "But you're-"

"Here," came another warm and silky voice floating down from the rooftops a few stories above. A lithe, but definitely male form crossed the moon that lingered over head, dropping down into the alley from the top of the bordering buildings. As the feet touched the ground, the wall of orange that had cut Kevin and me apart vanished in a paler flash of the same color. "Hey, Kev. Long time no see."

His obsidian eyes widened. If they had gotten any wider, they probably would've fallen out of his skull.

Oh, this _had_ to be one of Kevin's worst nightmares. And if we didn't set him straight now, I was pretty sure this nightmare was about to get a whole lot worse. We'd have heaping mountains of trouble. And that's trouble with a super bolded, capitalized, italics and underlined **_T_**. Especially if _she_ got involved again...

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**A/N: i'm honestly loving this. trust me, the characters are lovable!! (most of them...) i believe my purpose in life is too keep questioning myself...**

**Fun Fact: I created a hundred or so characters for Mandy. None of them fit as well as this version did. But I do have another character a lot like her in another story.**

**Leave a review if u liked it!**

**~Sky**


	4. Three Fourths of the Ring

**A/N: yet another chapter off my iPod Touch. Thank you for reading again. Check out my profile for my review on 'The Final Battle'.**

**Disclaimer: Mandy and the other OC r obviously mine. Gwen's POV, jsyk**

_When I'm all broke down,  
__Headin' for disaster  
__And I'm spinnin' round,  
__Tryin' to find a clue.  
__And my head is tired,  
__Of searchin' for the answers.  
__~Amazed, Vanessa Hudgens_

**Three Fourths of The Ring**

I poked my head around the corner. Something had to be wrong. This was awful. He just disappeared on me. He was so fast before. I'd called his name over and over again. Kevin didn't hear me.

So I followed him. Probably a bad idea. But I had to know what was wrong. He was so tense. His eyes were clouded over with grief and I couldn't stand it. Kevin was always secretive, but when he's in pain, it's hard to stand. I'm connected with him on more levels than one. When he's hurt, I'm hurt. So when I saw him like that, I had to know.

When he took off like that, I was scared that something had just snapped. Maybe he was running off on me just because I had pushed his limits too far. It was hard to tell. But when he never broke stride and didn't turn back after I called his name, I was almost sure it wasn't my fault.

When I stared into that alley, I knew I wasn't any kind of problem for him. And neither were the two he was with. The girl just smiled at him, almost proudly. Her milky brown eyes were gleaming with excitement.

The guy who had dropped into the alley could've easily been twenty. He had brown streaked blonde hair that was windswept backwards and out of his eyes, bangs still lay plastered to her forehead. His eyes were dark blue, the color of the deepest depths of the ocean. His smile: drop-dead gorgeous.

So who were they?

Kevin was staring at them, his expression turned away from me. I could still see his jaw lowered in shock from my position at the edge of the alley. Dusty fingers kept running through his hair, leaving streaks of white in it.

Then the girl took a step forward, offering out a slender hand to him. A smile crossed her face. "Come on." She bent down enough so that he could take her hand.

He did. And then pulled her down on top of him, sending them both in the gravel that coated the ground of the alley.

There was a chorus of laughter. Kevin's was the deeper, Mandy's more musical.

The other guy was seemingly fed up with this. "Okay, come on you weirdos, back on topic," he said, husky voice warm and friendly at the same time as he scolded them.

Mandy rose to her feet and then smiled devilishly as she pulled Kevin up for real this time. He staggered bit before catching his balance. "So what brought you two to Bellwood?" he asked, sounding a bit worried and confused.

"You." The guy kept his ocean colored gaze directly on Kevin, unwavering and serious.

I was still watching, still waiting, still standing. I wanted to see who these two were to him. They seemed to be important to Kevin more than anyone else. More than me. I must've been a distant memory, left at Mr. Smoothy. It sounded pathetic when I thought it.

"Kevin, things in New York changed." Mandy said, tone grave. "I know things weren't the best when you left, but now it's not good. There are more deals to crack down on and we've been busy trying to cover up our tracks."

"They blew up the SUV," the man said, a low growl releasing itself from his throat. "I want my SUV back, Kev."

My raven-haired boy sighed. "I can get it back with some help, Carson." He seemed to know exactly what they were talking about when I stood there, being oblivious and lost. "Now what else happened since I left? If you two made it, then-"

"Off topic again, Kev," the blonde man said, using one hand to brush his bangs out of his eyes. "Don't worry about that right now. Later." Kevin had called him Carson, I remembered. "We need you back in New York. We can't deal with everything alone."

This seemed to throw Kevin for a twist. "Why?"

"The Knights are dang annoying!" he said, tone fierce and rising. "I don't like 'em hanging around in our subways!" Carson's eyes lit up in a blue blaze. "The streets are ours, not a hunk of metal's! We need back-up!"

Mandy had fallen behind Carson. One of her delicate and pale hands rested on his shoulder. "Come on, you know we can't drag him back," she said softly. "He's not a kid anymore. He can make his own decisions."

They were trying to take him away from me? How did he know these guys? Would he really leave me? I had to step in. I wasn't about to let him go easily. He was mine and I wanted him to stay with me. With the team. Me and Kevin and Ben were a team, no matter how much we fought against one another.

"But we do need you, Kevin," Mandy said. She gave him a shy smile.

Whoever this chick was, I didn't like how she was so nice to Kevin. So I defintely moved in. I took one step into the alley, just around the corner.

Two sets of eyes snapped to me. Mandy and Carson's focus was trained on me. Her chocolate eyes hit me with curiosity. She'd been watching me and Kevin, that I knew. She must've wanted to know who I was just as much as I wanted to know who she was. But the blonde man was wary and tense. His eyes were suspicious.

Kevin turned around next. He must've heard me or seen them look to me. When he saw me, his eyes widened. He must not have known. "Gwen?"

"You ran off on me..." What other excuse could I give? He did run off on me. He left me sitting at Mr. Smoothy all by myself. Darkstar could've come after me or something and I could've disappeared or something and he wouldn't have had a clue. "What's going on?"

Kevin smiled in his natural smirk. "Gwen, these are my friends Mandy and Carson. And this is Gwendolyn Tennyson."

That got them both to stare at me. It was uncomfortable. So I worked on the best thing I could come up with. "Hi." Very nice, Gwen. So much for first impressions.

"The girl whose brother tried to kill you?" Carson asked, hands raised. Not threateningly, but almost as if he was poised for something.

"She's his cousin actually."

Mandy's eyes seemed to soften.

"She safe?" asked the blonde man. His hands didn't lower or move. "Can't risk it, Kev."

"Don't worry. She's cool." He waved a hand to call me forward. "Gwen, these guys are the ones who practically raised me in New York. I got out of the Null Void almost a year ago and I stayed with them after they took over my place in the subways."

That explained so much. And it was a relief. "Care to explain?" I asked him.

"Carson's an Anodite hybrid," he said, smiling. "He's a lot like you sometimes but he's older than us."

Carson lifted his hands, clenched them into fists and orange swirled around them, clear and bright as the mana glowed. "I'm also part Vulpimancer." The orange glow disappeared, his hands returning to normal.

I had to raise an eyebrow.

"Heightened senses," Kevin said as Carson tilted his head to one side to reveal gill-like flaps in his neck. A clearly Wildmutt trait that I remembered from all those years ago.

Mandy cleared her throat.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Mandy's pretty awesome too."

"_Pretty _awesome?" she squeaked, reaching over to give his shoulder a nice hard slug. A hollow metal sound came from him and Kevin was entirely unphased.

They stared at him for a few seconds. Then Carson said, "You can explain _that_ later."

"What about Mandy?" I asked, trying to get off the topic of Kevin's mutation. Underneath the ID mask, he was what he thought was a monster. But I always thought he was still the same Kevin I fell in love with. "What are Mandy's powers?"

"Totally human." She stretched out her arm and gave us a thumbs-up. That seemed untrue. She had a natural grace and was beautiful in her own way.

"But she's one of the biggest alien tech dealers on the market, ranking in the top twenty most wanted in this galaxy." Kevin smirked. "They taught me everything I know."

At this, the corners of Carson's lips turned upward. "I taught him how to fix up any ride or tech."

"I taught him to deal it out." Mandy leaned against Carson.

"They're like annoying older siblings that just decided to come back from college to bug me." Kevin looked at the two.

"They're older?" I found it all too hard to believe. Mandy looked maybe a year older than Kevin at least. And Carson was definitely older, but I had to wonder by how many years.

"Mandy's nineteen and Carson's twenty-two."

Wow. That caught me by surprise. They only seemed teenagers at least.

Kevin went on, seemingly lost in the past. "We used to be the biggest ring of con-artists in New York. The four of us."

I knew there were only three. Someone had to be missing, but I didn't have the heart to ask. If it was bad, I didn't want it to hurt Kevin. I knew his memories could be painful.

"Kevin, do you want to talk about this later?" asked Mandy. She seemed to know that this was going to be a touchy subject for him. "We could meet up at your garage later if you want to keep hanging out with Gwen."

I did want to get back to Mr. Smoothy, but it was wrong to pull Kevin away from these two. He hadn't seen them in almost a year. It wasn't right to take him away from them now.

"Meet up around midnight at the garage?" he offered.

Carson nodded. "See you around." He didn't move a muscle, but in a swirling tornado of orange, he and Mandy vanished. The wind was left to whip around the alley before suddenly dying out.

"You could really learn a lot from them," Kevin said, turning to head back out of the alley. He took my hand in his.

Whatever they had to talk about, they couldn't say anything in front of me. And there was something about that fourth member of their ring that was really starting to bother me. Who was it? And why did they have to fight to win the streets back? What was going on in New York that was important enough to drag Kevin away from Bellwood?

**A/N: FunFact: for those of you who read 'Warped' check chapter 2. notice anything strange about the names?**

**Leave a review! Thanks!**

**~Sky**


	5. Midnight

**A/N: okay, so yes, cheers, I'M BACK!!! *Sigh* one sad thing though. My sister's hamster, Simon, died the day we left for vacation. May he rest in peace with a food dish in the sky. It brought us down a little bit, but now we're going to get two and I get to name one of them. Im thinking Orange Juice… depends… idk yet tho. She's googling hamsters rite nao and we're looking for a breed. suggestions are gladly welcomed.**

**Back on track. Sky, Sky, Sky, where haz I been? I haz been on a cruise in the middle of the ocean. And trust me, the middle of the ocean can be surprisingly inspiring… so here's another chapter of 'Singing to Your Twisted Melody'. I wrote this one in every second of my spare time!**

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_'Why don't you tell him that I'm leavin'  
__Never to come back again'_

_~'Leavin', Jesse McCartney_

**Midnight**

I slammed the door shut after I had gotten the car parked neatly in the center of the garage. My head was thudding enough to give me a massive headache, but I felt no pain, only adrenaline.

I couldn't panic or wonder or feel any kind of emotions towards this yet. I wanted to stay with Gwen and Ben, but my loyalties strayed to the people I called family. Family was one thing that was hard to for me for me to find or accept and those two were the ones who'd let me in. They were exactly as I had told Gwen. Annoying siblings coming back from college to bug me. Except they weren't in college. And no matter how much I wanted them to be, they weren't my siblings.

So far, not a single sign of Carson or Mandy. I wondered if they were really going to meet me in the garage or not.

In truth, Mandy was so much more than human. She was a miracle worker. Mandy had this focus drive and extreme limits. Anything was within her reach with enough time, patience, and perserverance. She brought me down to reality and out of my hatred for the world when they took me in. And she was the one who kept me sane. She was the only reason I was who I was now.

Carson was more of the brawn and, since he only had about half a brain, the ringleader. Mandy drove everything, organizing, plotting, scheming. He kept us in control during the worst of things. We ran out of cash, he single-handedly robbed an entire bank. We got lost, he drove a hundred miles or so to find us in the middle of nowhere. Carson was the rock that kept us on the right track, so to speak.

Some of those things are hard to say since our final member held each and every quality that Mandy and Carson had and so much more.

I enforced it all. Out of line, I pound someone to dust and they get the point. They also found out that I make a brilliant pickpocket on short notice. Small, juvenile acts, I'm all over it. Being abandoned younger than them had it's perks.

There was a sweeping golden orange tornado in my garage that whipped winds around my face. I was amazed at how Carson's powers work. Sometimes they buzz out and others they're working better than Ben's watch. Then the mango colored mana died in an instant and Mandy and Carson were standing in where the eye of the storm was just seconds ago.

Mandy was racing towards me, arms outstretched, ready for a hug.

When she crashes into my arms, I swept her up and gave her a nice long hug. "Missed you, Mand," I murmured, holding her close to me. She was nothing more than a sister to me, which left me more confused than ever about the waves of jealousy that were streaming off of Gwen.

Carson moved towards my car. Once he got to it with his long strides, he leaned against the green and black paint job, arms folded tensely across his chest.

There was a slight silence as I moved Mandy to my side. "What all did I miss?" I asked. "It's been awhile since I saw you guys."

"We need you back, Kev." Carson's icy dark blue gaze pierced me. "It's no questions asked, bud. Knights got our subway. Mandy's stuff got caught in a heist and I'm in and out with my powers these days. You're our last resort. We know this is your life now, but we need you to come back to ours." His combat boot clad foot kicked a couple of stray pebbles away from my car. "We know this isn't going to be easy, but we need you really bad right now. It's for the sake of the streets of New York. It's your past but our reality."

My life. My teammates. My mom. How was I supposed to leave all that? And for what? For my other family? The ones who turned me so that I could keep pace with Gwen and Ben? Mandy and Carson were the ones I had to rely on. I needed them at one point and they needed me now.

I found Mandy's eyes locked on mine. "You could be away for a while." Her gaze betrayed that the real meaning behind that was "you might not be coming back". In more than just one-way. "And there are a few... complications."

"As in?"

Her brown eyes cast downward. "If we tell you, it'll rip your loyalties in half again. We can't risk that because you've gotta be at the top of your game. This isn't going to be a couple of skirmishes-"

My questioning eyes made her pause. Then Mandy clarified, "Little fights." Her shoulders did a little shrug motion.

"Continue," I said softly, ready to listen again.

"This isn't the petty crap anymore, Kevin. We're talkin' level ten tech on both sides and the occassional eleven and twelve. And since Earth is supposed to be level two, it isn't going to go over well." Mandy knew everything. She actually had the schematics for the Omnitrix. "It's the big guns this time."

"No problem." I could take care of a few weapons without a hitch. As long as no one was guarding them and I had a few minor explosives. "What else?"

"More Knights." Carson's voice was clearer, full of steel. "They got more recruits. Like she said, it's not for puppies and rooks. It's gotta be the kings and the Jedi Masters." The corners of his lips twitched upward. "There's a reason we're counting on you."

I could only return the smirk. "Is that all? Knights and their rooks? We could take them in our sleep!" I gave a short snort, another wind sweeping through the garage from the air outside. They'd tried to take us in our sleep before. It didn't go over well for them. We got a few captives for the day.

"Kevin, it's not that simple," Mandy stated once again. She was looking so solemn compared to the girl I used to know. Mandy wasn't the same. Normally bubbly and rock star was Mandy. This... this wasn't. "You'll have to cut off all ties with the Plumbers."

Not be a Plumber? It was my dream. My dad /died/ for the job and I was /meant/ to take his place. It was by blood. It wasn't negotiable. I wanted to be a Plumber. And not just that, but I /needed/ to be a Plumber. It was the only reason I could stay around Gwen and Ben without seeming like I had nothing better to do. And give it up? After all my hard work? "Why?"

"The stuff on the streets ain't exactly legal, remember?" Carson sneered as if it were all too obvious and I was some kind of retard. "You'll have to give up the badge, cut off connections, and leave the Tennysons behind. For good."

That sealed it. If the desperation was bad, they wouldn't've come out here. But this meant that they had a serious problem. Not one with multiple options, but only one. Complete extinction. I was the enforcer. I controlled a lot of guys from te subways around New York. My force alone had to be double the size of any other, just because I had so many connections with people. But leaving Gwen behind? She was everything I wanted.

In all honesty, that was a lie.

"Alright."

Mandy's eyes got wide as her head whipped to stare at me, lips in the shape of an o. "Kevin, you do have a choice," she began. "We're not forcing you. You really can stay here."

"No. Loyalties lie in New York." I knew where I had to be. It wasn't a choice I wanted to make, but Bellwood wasn't going anywhere without me. Mandy and Carson needed me. It was life or death in New York. Here, we were all sitting at Mr. Smoothy in our spare time gaining five pounds a day from blended fruit. "I'm coming with you."

Carson gave a curt nod of approval. "We'll give you a day to pack up, but we wanna be outta here by about this time tomorrow. I can warp us only so far and if I'm buzzing out, we all know how that'll go over." His deep blue eyes rolled. His powers had to be the most annoying thing about him. "Think your car can get us there if I can only go so far?" he asked, refering to his powers.

"No sweat." How was I going to break it to Gwen and Ben? Flat out tell them? 'Hey, I'm going to New York to live in the subways. Have a nice life!' How would they take that? I has other options, but I didn't like them any better.

"Cool." One hand raised. He was ready to leave already. Carson liked to keep things quick when he knew bad things were coming up in the near future.

Too bad he knew. "Neither of you are going anywhere yet," I stated, knowing they'd have enough heart to hear me out through this one.

"Can't we postpone this discussion to a later date?" Carson asked, eyes downward. This was what he'd been dreading.

They both hated this part. Where they had to tell me that one thing. The one thing that I needed to know more than anything else in the world. I'd let the explanation go for too long. It'd eaten away at me. I had wanted to die more than once for this because it bothered me.

"What really happened back in New York?" I asked.

Mandy was the first to jump. She had to start on defense before I got too focused on this. "The Knights took our subway and all my gear and-"

"Before I left."

They both shared scared glances. I wasn't being threatening. Just cold. With them, nothing was ever a straight answer. It was always twisted. Everything always was.

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**A/N: okay, finally. The next chapter is easily going to be my favorite. Mostly because I can finally enjoy this part… YOU GET TO MEET- *is muzzled and carried away***

**REVIEW OR DIE!!!**

**~Sky**


	6. That Night

**A/N: this plotline is really dragging me in more than any other… im sucked in because even though I know where I want this to go, I want to see how I can rewrite it. Now that I see this again, I only know of the characters who have actually stayed the same. Mandy and Carson…**

**Disclaimer: Gwen and Ben and Kevin aren't mine. Almost everyone else is though.**

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'_I remember when we kissed,  
__I still feel it on my lips.  
__The time that you danced with me,  
__With no music playin'.  
__I remember the simple things,  
__I remembered 'til I cried.  
__But the one thing I wish I'd forget,  
__The memory I wanna forget,  
__Is goodbye.'_

_~ 'Goodbye', Miley Cyrus_

**That Night**

Carson stepped towards me and was standing only a foot away with one long stride. "You know I don't want to do this, Kev, but only if you insist." I felt his palm press against my forehead, warm and rough, his skin dry. "I'm going to show you what happened. Explaining isn't enough for this." He bit his lip and a surge of energy exploded from his hand, flowing through me like a river, powerful and dangerous.

I felt like I was in a vortex of wind. Icy air nipped at the skin on my throat and I was back in New York. That last day. That day when...

The night had swooped over the sky like a hawk, painting stars in the dark shadows that it spread above the city. But the space we were standing in was lit up in an inferno. Flames devoured the building around us. Not us. Them. I found that I was staring at myself, only a year younger, standing outside the wall of fire. I was in the eyes of Carson.

I was standing outside, watching then being burned alive in these flames that I created. My eyes were wide, terrified, infuriated. I knew exactly what I was thinking at that point. It couldn't be happening. It had to be a lie. I didn't do that, did I?

Mandy was yelling something, her words caught in the wind, carried away by the sweeping air around her face, the heat flushing her cheeks red. "Just go, Kevin! Go!" Tears were looming in her eyes, waiting to fall down her face when no one was looking. "We'll be fine!" Her voice choked, but at least Carson had heard her. "We'll be fine," Mandy sobbed, dropping to her knees. I felt Carson fall beside her, holding her hand tightly within his.

I knew where I was even though Carson's deep eyes of blue weren't watching me. I was watching the waves of the inferno wash over my friends, licking at them, tasting them, deciding their fates. And I knew exactly who I was watching.

It wasn't Mandy and it wasn't Carson.

I watched the fire burn around her, hair as silvery white as ivory dancing around at her waist, the jet black streaks falling around her face and stopped just an inch past her chin. It glistened in the light of the flames. Her endless black eyes were settled on me, only me. Her hand had woven her fingers together, intertwined them. And she was standing there. Her tattered jeans hugged just below her waist and a loose t-shirt of mine clung to her frame.

I did cause that. I caused her to be burned to ash. And her eyes never left mine, never narrowed, never changed. She watched me loyally, waiting for me to make my choice. I didn't have a choice. When the thinnest smile of disgust crossed her face, I knew the way she was feeling. She knew I was about to take off. I did.

Carson's eyes lifted and I could see her, eyes lit with fury, blazing with darkness. "Come on. He's gone, let it go," his voice was saying. "Just-"

Her hands raised to the stars that speckled the night. Then she let out a cold, harsh scream that pierced the darkness. Her silver hair floated around her like a ghost surrounding its prey. And from her lips erupted a sound that destroyed every last ember of flame and every last ash. All that stood were the reminents of the burning building.

Then she turned and stared at Carson. Her cold eyes hung perfectly aligned with his for only moments before dropping back to the ground. Her fingers twined together once again, arms hanging down at her sides.

Mandy leaned against Carson more, her hands linking behind his neck as she cried herself out. I had never seen Mandy cry before. And I don't think it was because she was about to die this time. Her dark, dark brown eyes were soaked with tears. "Kevin," she sobbed my name into his broad chest.

He wrapped his arms around her solemnly, pressing his face into her blonde hair. It was sticky, but smelled like smoke and vanilla. Mandy just let it all loose, getting it all out.

Carson's gaze slowly went up again, looking over the other girl standing there. Her head was shaking slowly, side to side, white hair swishing a her waist as her eyes closed and one silent tear slipped down her face.

I left them there. To die.

Black winds curled around me and I felt the garage materialize once more as I hit the ground, my legs giving way to gravity. I closed my eyes and curled up tightly. "I..."

A warm hand was on my shoulder. "You didn't know that she was going to save us. None of us knew she could do that." Mandy stroked my hair like an older sister would, slowly and softly, trying to be a comfort to soothe the pains of living. "I don't think she knew either, Kevin."

"She can't..." I found myself choking on air, fighting off sobs, trying to stop this pain from unravelling. Carson's memories were strong, each detail as clear as a pane of glass. He had captured that moment in time perfectly, each moment of the torture intensified.

I could see my own memories burned deep into my mind.

Her hands tangled in my hair as she laid on me in my room down in the subways, her fingers wound with mine.

The way her lips were so soft against mine when she leaned over to kiss me.

When she came running to me, leaping up and throwing her legs around my waist to bring us closer.

Her addictive smile.

The melody. My melody. Melody.

Carson sighed. "We need to get you back before she comes looking for us." He reached up and ruffled his hair, which was a stringy mess. "Argit's been keeping an eye on you for us and we didn't want Melody coming because... We really didn't want to make it too awkward for Gwen, you know? Mandy wanted to keep the Tennysons out of this so that there wasn't a confrontation. We thought it'd be better that way. For you and for them."

I knew they had taken a while to consider this. It wasn't something easy. They'd been watching me. They knew my life had changed. The situation in New York had to be bad to watch them drag me away from this life. "I... I know..." This wasn't easy. To leave Gwen. To leave Ben. To leave Bellwood. "I just can't believe that she's still..."

"Mel surprises us all, Kevin." Carson breathed slowly for a few minutes.

"But I knew her best, Car. I know Melody better than anyone else ever could." I couldn't believe that I'd left her behind... I'd left that girl behind. The one I swore that I'd watch over above anything. My life was dedicated to her and only her at one point and now she was back in my world. My Melody.

"She asked for you back." Mandy helped me up, leading me over to the couch so I could drink in air. I had to relax. I couldn't believe any of it, but I had to. She was alive. She was there. "She was begging last week to get you, but we weren't going to send her in. Obvious reasons." Mandy dropped beside me on the couch. She kept trying to comfort me, keeping close to me and then pulling me into her. I really wished she were my sister. "We didn't want to bring you back, Kev. We wanted you to stay here. It's better for you, but it's for New York. It's for all of us."

"I'm still coming, Mandy." I wasn't backing out now. I had agreed. I wanted to see Melody. I had to fight this out with them. Even if it meant losing Gwen forever. "It's loyalty, like you said. But the Tennysons can help if-"

"No." Carson's eyes were dead serious. His tone was cold and firm. "It's only us, no other options. The four of us, Kevin. No one else. You got that?" He wasn't asking. He was demanding. With that said, he turned and headed out the opening of the garage. It was the sign that he was ready to leave.

Still sitting next to me, Mandy sounded really broken up. "Kevin, I'm so sorry about this. I tried to keep you out of it, but they got my gear." She was a mess. "You know what that's like. It's like you without your car or Carson without his fists or Melody being stripped of her voice." Mandy rested her head on my shoulder. Her blonde locks cascaded over my black shirt, making her hair seem to glow in the fluorescent lighting. "I'm so sorry."

I only reached one arms around her and gave her a tiny hug. I knew she needed it. Her stress level was high and she was tired with all this.

The truth was, Mandy didn't deal with emotional pain well. Or being abandoned. Her parents had tried to kill her, but Carson dragged her off the streets fast enough to save her before taking off again without anyone realizing. He saved her. She owed him so much that sticking with him was the least she could do. Even though it bugged the crap out of him.

Then I came back, looking for my place to stay, only finding it filled with these two strangers. Carson had found it and taken in Mandy. Then he let me stay too. It was my place originally, so he knew I had a right to it.

Melody... I found her crying in an alley over a dead sister. The one who had raised her. Gone. Killed in the crossfire of a Knight shoot-out. Even in her worst moments, she was strong, protecting her heart even as I knelt down and took her hand, taking her down to our subway only a few blocks away. She was accepted easily.

I don't know whatever happened to Carson to send him into the streets. I know it wasn't easy, sending him over the edge like that. Underneath it all, when he can truly let loose, Carson is a fun-loving guy. He likes to wrestle for nothing. He likes to toss a football around when it's just us guys down there. He's not so strict all the time. But when it comes to Knights and the streets that raised him, that's when you know he's going to put on a tough face and when you just have to obey him.

Mandy let out a sigh. "I hope it goes over well with Gwen. She seemed really nice."

I couldn't help but hang my head in my hands. "I really thought that this was going to last. She was everything..."

"Kevin, life isn't easy. You have to choose sometimes." Mandy stood up. "This perfect life, being the hero, saving random people, Gwen." On the redhead's name, one corner of her upper lip curled into a smile which disappeared only a millisecond later. "Or family, New York, saving each other. And Melody." She was vanishing into the shadows outside of the garage. "You still have a choice." And she was gone.

I drank in the cold air, feeling it like ice in my lungs. Darkness swelled around me, surrounding me and welcoming me once more into the night. There were no stars out, only clouds. I already knew what I needed, where I wanted to be.

**

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A/N: talk about dedication, Kev... Keeping you wondering is Sky and I shall go skip off to Starbucks to write yet another chapter… I read all my reviews so leave one and make me happyyy. U guys always say the funniest things…

**~Sky**


	7. Break Away

**A/N: again! More writing! This hasn't been updated in a while. Fixing it up before dinner…**

**Disclaimer: Melody, Carson, and Mandy are all mine. Everyone else, not so much.**

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"_Still alive but I'm barely breathin',  
Just prayin' to a god that I don't believe in  
_'_cause I got time and she's got freedom.  
_'_cause when your heart breaks no it don't break even"_

_~ 'Breakeven (Falling to Pieces)', The Script_

**_Break Away_**

All I knew was that my mom wasn't going to be happy. Then I had to deal with Gwen... That would be hard. And Ben. Yeah, he'd be able to manage without me. I was probably like an annoying older brother to him. If living with me was hard, living without me would be a breeze.

I hit the brakes, parking right outside my house. This was probably going to be the hardest part. I pulled the key out of the ignition. I shoved it deep down into my pocket. The cold ice burrowed its way into my heart. Pain would soon follow.

I jogged up the few stairs and stood on that porch for a long time. Such a long, long time. The sun beat down on my face and neck. I was so hurt. But I had to leave. I had to. There were no real options beside it. They needed me. It was having me with them and fighting for my life everyday or staying in Bellwood with nothing to gain and nothing to lose. It wasn't simple, but I didn't want to be left out of my life. The life that I used to have...

"Kevin?" asked my mom, looking at me through the kitchen window. Her dark gaze was trained on me; concern laced in her every flickering glance. "Are you alright, baby?"

I was going to miss everything about this place. I was going to miss my room. I'd have to leave my garage behind. All those memories of me and Ben doing stupidly random things together in the garage would fade away. And Gwen. Oh, Gwen.... Bellwood was the first place I'd ever felt truly at home.

I'd miss living here. And the worst thing was, I'd miss Mr. Smoothy.

My mom's face was still the perfect picture of worry as her dark eyes stared out at me. "What's wrong?" she called through the open window, drying her hands on the dishtowel.

"I'm leaving, Ma," I replied softly. "I don't belong here." That was a lie. "I need to be somewhere else." I stood there, leaning against the posts that held the small roof-like structure above the porch.

And as I let my gaze meet hers, I watched her brown eyes stare back sadly at me. She didn't seem broken or hurt, just extremely alone. Like it was the last piece of her heart that I was ripping away. "I always knew you had to be off to bigger and better things. You were always destined for that, darling. This life was never enough." This moment had been carried on through the window until she disappeared into the kitchen and came out the front door, standing in the frame. My mother seemed to look me over before smiling approvingly, her eyes still sullen, but she would never admit it. We Levins bank on our pride. "Your father was the same way. And I always knew you were going to follow him."

"I'm sorry," I started, but she cut me off with a glare before I could get any further.

"You need to listen to me."

I only nodded. Arguing with her is like asking for a death warrant. A long, painful, and torturous death warrant.

"If this has anything to do with your father or your step-father, just tell me. I care about you and I love you." She reached out with one small, delicate hand to touch my shoulder. "Be safe. I raised you well enough to be out on your own now." My mom wouldn't break down no matter how much she wanted to. She wasn't going to cry. It was part of her being her. And partly pride. Actually, I had a feeling it was mostly her pride that kept her from breaking down. "And make sure to call me every now and then. If you don't, I guarantee you'll be sorry."

I nodded, trying not to let the tears cascade down my cheeks. Pride was what held us together and pushed us apart. And somehow, it kept us together as a family. No matter what. "I will, Ma."

She hit me with the dirty dark blue dish towel that was in her hand. "Get out of here, Kev," she laughed, stepping out fully onto the porch. The sunlight painted her hair to brightness, the tendril-like rays of sun gently kissing her weary face.

This got me to smile despite the situation. For being my mom, she was pretty awesome. "Love ya, Ma."

Again, she hit me with the towel. "Love you too, baby."

Carefully, I jogged back down the steps. Another car skidded past mine, parking right next to my car, but I was already inside my own precious vehicle, the key pressed into the ignition and engine purring, prepared to pull away as soon as the moron who was the beginning of the end of my life was out of my way.

The second he was on the sidewalk and there was no chance of me running over him (even though I really, really I wanted to), I was gone, pulling around the corner. Disappearing. It was an act I had excelled at over the years.

Moving on. Mr. Smoothy. That's where I'd agreed to meet Gwen this morning. As expected, I caught sight of her radiant fiery red mane on one side of the parking lot, leaning against the side of the building, dazzling emerald gaze scanning the parking lot for any signs of me or my ride. Sure enough, the shining green metal must've caught her eye because she was sprinting towards the car in all her grace, waves of scarlet hair billowing behind her.

I pulled the car into a space and she slowed to a stop only a yard or so away. Then approached slowly. "Hey," she said. "What happened last night?"

Hard part. Lying to Gwen. I'd hate lying to her, but it was the only way I'd be able to get away. At least my left eye didn't twitch like Ben's did. It would've been a dead giveaway, but I didn't have any kind of problem like that. "We headed out on a deal. Mandy brought the stuff I needed and I was able to put it together with the dealer that had been fighting for it." I had gotten out of my car and now leaned against the door.

Her eyes narrowed. Sadly, I knew what I was getting myself into. "You said you wouldn't deal anymore, Kevin! You promised me you wouldn't!" One of her small hands launched itself out at me to deliver a punch to my chest, but I blocked her hand only a short second later by placing my palm in the way. Then I closed my hand tightly around her fist and twisted it the wrong way, a quick yelp of pain escaping her lips.

I kept my expression as hard as stone and let my eyes turn cold. Instead of saying anything, I just released her hand.

Gwen clutched her wrist to her chest, the other hand caressing it, massaging what I injured. "Kevin..." Her gaze slowly moved upwards to meet mine and I could tell that she was hurt. The girl I loved seemed broken because of one simple thing. I could faintly see the glistening of tears in her eyes. And I had to admit that I definitely felt guilty after seeing her being saddened so deeply like that. "What is wrong with you?" she asked. I heard her voice cracking.

My face remained emotionless, empty. No reply came from me.

Only one step was taken by Gwen. Backwards. Away from me. "Kevin, you promised me that you'd never trade anymore alien tech." She was wounded. Not only physically. I'd just dealt her one of the hardest blows she'd probably ever receive.

"I already traded my tech, Gwen. I can't stay clean forever." I looked her dead in the eyes. I really hoped that she couldn't read my emotions as well as I could read hers. Being secretive was something that really paid off in times of need. Times like this. "I need cash."

Without another thought, she went into fury mode. Anger blazed in an inferno behind her emerald orbs. "I'm done with you, Kevin. If you can't stay off the streets, then maybe you don't belong with me. And chances are, you don't belong on this team either." She was fierce now. She had been kicked in the stomach by my betrayal and now she was lashing out with her tongue, just leaving scrapes on me compared to what I'd felt in the past.

"Maybe I don't," I sneered, reopening the car door and sliding into the driver's seat. The keys were still in the ignition and I took off at top speed, the engine charged like lightning, sending me back towards the garage. Tires squealed on the black pavement as I headed off.

In the rearview mirror, I caught sight of Gwen. She stood there, staring after me. Her gorgeous emerald eyes were drenched with unshed tears. Her red hair was being blown to one side from the whipping winds. That hand remained clutched to her chest, probably sore by now. She was going to break down as soon as she was alone. I barely saw her as she ran off in the direction of her house. Clearly, she wouldn't make it all the way there without a few of those sparkling silver tears sliding down and maybe a sob being unleashed from her lips.

Already, I knew I'd broken her heart.

And my own.

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**A/N: there's that taken care of… review if you think this was good! Or if you have any comments or… I'm babbling. Just review!**

**~Sky**


	8. Losses to Gain

**A/N: Skylark Evanson: has just had the worst day of her life. Setting that aside, I got this finished up today.**

**Disclaimer: Mandy, Melody, and Carson are mine, mine, and MINE! Everyone else, not so mucchhh!!**

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'_Who's that girl?  
__Where's she from?  
__No she can't be the one  
__That you want  
__That has stolen my world.  
__It's not real. It's not right.  
__It's not day. It's not night.  
__By the way,  
__Who's that girl?  
__Livin' my life'_

_~'Who's That Girl', Hilary Duff_

**_Losses to Gain_**

I dropped back into the garage at top speed, letting the car drift for only a few inches before I threw on the really hard brakes, which got my car to skid to a halting stop less than a foot away from the wall. Then I pulled the key out of the ignition and threw it out the window, getting it to land perfectly on top of my huge stand up tool chest with a _chink!_ sound.

Poised on my couch was Mandy. Her long blonde hair cascaded over one shoulder that was covered with a flimsy white t-shirt. Her deep brown eyes had a glaze of concern over them and buried in the depths of those chocolate orbs was a haunting fear.

Then on the other side was Carson. Windswept hair was hanging down in his face. In that light, tints of auburn and copper were visible amidst the blonde that dominated. His ocean blue eyes were determined, but again, traces of panic were spread across his features. And he was the one who had taught me to keep a straight face in almost any situation. Now to see him like that was a huge shock for me.

Between them, sat Melody.

Her black eyes were caught on mine, a breath-taking shade of ebony. Wet tears that chose not to fall made them glow like the last dying embers of a pit of flames. Her ivory hair was cut short, resting upon her slender shoulders, the streaks of darkness falling now just to about her eyes. Black bangs were set to the sides of her face, the darkness perfectly contrasting her ghostly pale features. And hanging on her fragile frame was a limp white dress with black stretching down in more streaks from the waistline to create the piano effect that she had mastered on her hair too. Beautiful. That was the only way to describe her.

"Kevin?" came her weak voice, timid and scared, only confirming my fears.

She was supposed to be in New York. Melody was supposed to be defending the fort. It had to be a battle she'd lost if she'd come to find us.

"Mel," I breathed. I couldn't believe the rush of relief I felt. Guilt no longer ebbed at my every thought for letting her and my extended family die. This was really happening. They were all here, coming to take me back where I belonged.

One hand reached up to wipe away her tears as she rose from the couch and bolted over to me. Her face pressed itself into my chest, a warmth instantly spreading over me as I knew this was how it needed to be. Everyday. Forever. Melody found that way right back into my heart because the door had never closed for her.

I wrapped my arms around her thin waist and held her tightly. Comfort. Defense. Strength. That was what I meant to her. All those long nights just laying on the couch and telling Chuck Norris jokes had a purpose. Just to bring us together so that we could never be separated. And we couldn't be.

Carson let his head hang in his hands. A disgrace. Something serious went down in New York and now I wondered how bad things really had gotten.

Mandy watched us, a sad smile on her face. Almost like she regretted something.

Her sobs were now delivered to my chest, nearly silent. I held her tighter, knowing that she needed me now more than ever. I gave her forehead a gentle kiss and found myself murmuring, "It's alright, Mel. It'll be okay."

We must've stood there for a while because Carson finally lifted his gaze from the floor to meet my eyes. "Kev, we lost the subway. Everything's gone now. Knights overran the place and Mel couldn't hold them off. All our stuff is gone. No cars. No phones. No cash." He seemed vaguely This word is blocked, but wasn't about to admit it to anyone to make Melody any more guilt than she probably already was. "And you know what this means, right?"

I was the only one left with a life, that was what it meant. One I had just left behind. For good. I hurt Gwen. I cut off my mom. And now my family was depending on me to get them through until we had a game plan to take back our subway headquarters in New York. And none of us knew how long that could take.

I only nodded and reached one hand up to stroke Mel's silky black and white hair. Then I mouthed, "I know."

"Bellwood." His lips formed the word and I already knew what he meant. In other words, I might've just screwed us. Our headquarters was now going to be from the place that I had just been given my ticket into a cold, harsh exile.

There was a prolonged silence hung in the air as Melody clung to my shirt and let the tears spill from her black eyes, her body shaking violently as sob after sob attacked her. I kissed her forehead again. This was going to be a hard recovery for everyone.

"Mel," I murmured. When she made no attempt to acknowledge me, I repeated her name. Silence followed like a wolf stalking its prey. After that didn't work, I just scooped her up in my arms and held her tightly to my chest like an injured child. "Melody, it's not your fault," I assured her. "Promise me that you're going to understand that it's not your fault."

"But it is," she whined. "Kevin, it's all my fault because I couldn't wait and they came and found me and- and-" Her throat seemed to close off because only a few more choked sobs were released before she fell back into her silence and crying.

I closed my eyes. Everything we'd ever worked for was now gone and useless, given to the enemy. I'd saved up at least $34,000 in those subways from pick-pocketing and then simple robberies and bank account hacking. All my life savings were there and in my car, but now it was all gone. But I had my Melody. That was all I needed.

"We're going to have to operate out of here," I started after placing Melody back on the couch between Carson and Mandy. Her head rested on Mandy's slumped shoulder. "I'm going to need to fix a lot of stuff if we're going to stay here. All my connections were already cut off and now I can't go anywhere near Gwen or Ben and my mom's house is off limits. So the garage is all I've got left to live off of."

Carson nodded. "We can get jobs around here to keep money going until we can head back and stake claims again." He got to his feet and the emanating glory was returned to his features. "Thanks for not leavin' us, Kev."

I was now their lifeline.

Mandy gave me a proud and approving smile. Glimmers of hope rose behind the colors of brown in her eyes. "We owe you now," she added.

And Melody blinked gratefully. She sat there for a long time and then smiled like Mandy had earlier. Sadly. Her black eyes were glazed over with love. For me. Because it was always us. Whenever Mandy and Carson weren't around, we were on our own. Plotting our own heists. Random running around on the streets. Making out on the couch back in the subway. Dancing around in the silence. And then just curled up in my room, her head in the crook of my neck, where it fit perfectly, as if we were made for each other. Memories were like floods lately and the dam had broken, unleashing them all upon me.

Mandy and Carson left. Well, actually it was more like Mandy dragging Carson away because she knew I needed some time alone with Melody. The excuse of needing a job came very much in handy at that point. It got Carson away pretty easily.

Once they were gone, I dropped onto the couch beside Melody. "You doin' okay?" I asked softly, running one finger across her soft cheek. She smiled at that, this time truly happy. I received a soft nod from her. I had to keep going and ask further, just out of concern. "Did they hurt you or anything?"

"Kevin, I can take care of myself," she answered almost overconfidently. Her head rested on my shoulder. Melody's breathing was rhythmic, but I expected nothing less. "How have you been?" she came back with.

I had to smile. "I've been a good boy."

A short giggle erupted from her throat and her eyes were twinkling with the hidden laughter. "Good?" she asked, still being assaulted with the giggle attack. "Good?" I gave her a short nod. "Kevin," she began again, "I don't even think you know the definition of good."

All at once, her lips fell against mine roughly and Melody's hands were intertwined in my hair. It was like a miracle that I had missed out on for over a year. There was the passion of it at first until I managed to get my arms around her waist and she let out a long sigh before pulling away. Nine simple words came out of her mouth. "You know how much I love you, right Kev?"

"Of course."

I found my heart ready to explode with all this. I had the girl I loved back. I had my two best friends back. I had everything I could probably ever need. What could ever go wrong now?

**~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~Guess Who!~**

**Gwen's POV**

I'd just walked into the garage to check on Kevin and maybe to apologize to him for what I'd said until I saw him with that girl. Short white hair with dark streaks of black. Pure black obsidian eyes whereas Kevin's had hints of brown. And she was kissing him. She was taking my place. She was stealing him from me.

Why was she with Kevin?

Who was she?

How did he know her?

And why did Kevin look like he was enjoying it so much?

* * *

**A/N: like it? I can dive into Melody's personality later. But for now, you've seen bits and pieces of who she is. leave reviews. Tell me what you think of her and where this whole plotline is going.**

**~Sky**


	9. Out At Night

**A/N: ahahaha! So my bud Torrie and I are plotting to run a contest at our school to draw life-sized pix of the Ben 10 crew and to post them up around the school. Whichever character gets the most votes wins; and also gets shredded. Hahaha! Funny, right?! Yeah, odds are, since no one watches the show, Ben's getting the shredder which leaves me and Torrie to fight it out over the life-sized Kevin!!**

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10. I am not Man of Action, last time I ****checked.**

* * *

'_Night,  
__And the spirit of life  
__Calling,  
__Oh, oh, iyo mamela, oh, oh, iyo  
__And the voice  
__With the fear of a child,  
__Answers  
__Oh, oh, iyo mamela'_

_~'He Lives in You', Lebo M_

**Out At Night**

It was silent. Ben paced over to Mr. Smoothy. Darkness floated around the building. The brunette just loved smoothies so much that he would come out on one of the coldest nights of the year or the week or the month or whatever and get one. He loved smoothies. No doubt about that.

He placed a few bills on the counter. "Bologna, carrot, and applesauce smoothie please." His brown hair swept around his face as the winds picked up. Ben focused on the moon above. It was glowing like he'd never seen before. Almost blindingly bright.

The girl behind the counter never turned around. "I was warned about you. The random customer who will suggest any combination of smoothie in the whole entire universe."

Universe? That got his attention. He knew a lot of people used that expression, but she seemed to put some extra emphasis on it as if to make it mean more than it did. Ben kept that in mind. "I'm not random! I like to call it 'different in a special way'." He smirked. No one ever called it that.

She seemed to chuckle for a second. The smoothie machine lit up behind the counter. The mush of foods blended together. "Ben Tennyson, right?"

He was a bit amazed. The people at Mr. Smoothy actually knew his name. That was definitely cool. "Uh-huh."

"One more question," she started as the machine died again, signaling that his drink was done.

He leaned against the counter nonchalantly. "Shoot."

"Do you prefer to be called Ben Tennyson or Ben 10?"

He froze. Only a few people called him Ben 10. Usually aliens. And especially aliens that hated him or wanted him dead or wanted him in prison for something stupid. Like knocking over a statue, for example. So a _lot_ of aliens wanted him dead. "Tennyson is preferred," he replied coolly, still wanting to question this mysterious new girl further.

He heard her laugh. "Yeah, that's what Kevin likes to call you," she said, pouring the nasty smoothie thing into a cup and working to snap the lid on. It didn't want to cooperate. Lids hated her.

"You know Kevin?" asked the brunette boy. He leaned in closer. Who was this girl and how did she know his friend?

Her laughter came once again. It was soft, almost musical. Very light and friendly. How could she ever be friends with Kevin?! She was way to nice! "Know him? I lived with him for almost a year."

Ben's eyebrows arched upward questioningly. "Are you his sister or something?"

"Kevin doesn't have any real siblings, but he likes to think of me as his sister." She finally got the lid to snap on and managed not to spill any of the gross slime within the cup. Then her hand reached over for one of the many red straws sticking out of the container thingy. "I'm assuming you want to know who I am?"

Ben nodded as she took his cash and handed him the sludge he called a drink. "Just a little bit."

She smiled slyly and jabbed the straw into the lid of the cup. "You'll need to buy another smoothie for that." The girl leaned across the counter. Her deep brown eyes gleamed devilishly.

He suddenly needed another smoothie.

As if reading his thoughts, she said, "But you'll need to go to the back of the line." She pointed behind him. In the time it took her to get him one smoothie, a line of three people had appeared.

He glared at her and she just returned it with a cute little smile.

He listened to each person's conversation with her. Usually just over the weather and her new job at the smoothie shack and one guy brought up the random sign that stood in the parking lot. Why have a walking smoothie on a sign? It was a good point. Why advertise walking smoothies? You want to show people that the smoothies walk away or something?

By the time the line narrowed down and Ben got to the counter again, the girl was getting faster at the machines. He would have to ask his questions fast. "This time?" she asked, her head tilting to one side like a curious puppy but it had the feeling that she was taunting him.

"Ginger, mango, thyme, and dragonfruit."

"You are a very strange boy," she commented with a little giggle, turning around to work on the drink. The girl pushed her blonde hair over her shoulder, the streaks of brown highlighting her features including her chocolatey brown eyes. "So what do you think about the weather?"

"Haha. Funny," remarked Ben. Then he remembered that he had to ask and decided to get to the point. "Who are you? How do you know Kevin? What's your name?"

"Are you naturally this curious?" she countered. "Or are you just concerned for a friend?" Her gaze dared him to keep going further as she looked at the Tennyson boy over her shoulder.

"Will you just give me a straight answer?" Ben was quickly losing patience. He'd heard from Gwen that some of Kevin's old friends were in town, but she seemed really shaken up for some reason. The brunette boy never questioned her further. He never wanted to push his cousin anymore because when she snapped, it usually wasn't pretty.

"My shift is over," she replied softly, handing the smoothie maker machine and cup over to the random guy who had walked in the back door of the small shack. The girl took off her apron and hung it on a hook. "Bye, Ben!" She gave him a short wave before disappearing through that door.

Ben sighed and banged his head down on the counter.

"Hot, isn't she?" asked the guy who had just walked in. He took the apron back off the hook and threw it over his neck before reaching around to tie it up in the back.

"No," snorted Ben. His head was now sore from banging his head on the counter. "Just annoying."

The cup of Ben's latest smoothie concoction was placed on the counter. "That'll be three seventy two."

It was at that point that Ben realized he'd spent the last of his cash on the first smoothie. "Crap."

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**A/N: Fun Fact: Take a slice of bologna, spread a whole lot of apple sauce all over it and chop up raw carrots and sprinkle them on top. Then roll it up and it is epically amazing. no, it's not strange. people actually do this alot. (i figured it out when i was like eight or something!)**

**back to the point. leave a review!!!**

**~Sky**


	10. Silence and Song

**A/N: gah! Just found myself sitting outside and my iPod Touch was right there and I just had to write more. I go insane when I put this off… ignore my Hiatus. Screw it. I give up on trying to focus on one thing at a time!!!**

**Disclaimer: own nothing except Mandy, Carson, and Melody.**

_

* * *

_

_'Video girl rocked my world  
__For a whole two seconds  
__And now I know,  
__I'm not about to be another victim  
__Of the video girl syndrome  
__Get out of my face,  
__Get out of my space.  
__Get some class and kiss the past  
_'_cause I'm not about to be another victim  
__Of the video girl syndrome'_

_~'Video Girl', Jonas Brothers_

**_Silence and Song_**

There was only the beating of hearts. Slow and steady for him. Quick and fluttering for her.

Kevin was still out cold, body limp in the back seat of his car. His hair covered his eyes. Chest rising and falling, she could tell he was asleep. It had been a while since he'd had to break another heart and then suffer the emotional breakdown that followed soon after. Not like losing Gwen was the worst thing that could ever happen to him. Losing Melody was a different story. Losing her again would be like having to rip his own heart out and then eat it. Good thing he was deeply asleep or else the thought of that would've gotten him to bolt awake.

There was stirring in the backseat as the door opened and Melody quietly clamored out. She closed her eyes, knowing this was where she wanted to be. Bellwood. Her body gave the smallest shiver and she braced herself against the car, not wanting to wake her boyfriend. She loved him too much to even think about disturbing him. She reached behind her ear to push the white and black strands out of her face.

There was a short rustling sound as she heard Carson roll over on the couch. He took in a deep breath of air before fidgeting another second or two. Then the air was released from his lungs and every muscle in his body had relaxed.

Mandy was still out at Mr. Smoothy, due back any minute now. That was one thing people loved about Mandy. She could stay up as late as she wanted without growing the slightest bit tired. Then when she did get tired, she was out cold for about thirteen hours. In a way, she was her own miracle worker.

Taking advantage of her alone time, Melody strode out of the garage. The night air was a relief after laying with Kevin in the backseat of his car for so long. His warmth had spread over her, such a comfort to have him /that/ close to her again.

The moon's beams of glowing white light illuminated her hair and dress. She hadn't wanted to take it off, too tired to do so. Melody looked behind her at the ground she had just walked across. Her shadow stretched across the blacktop. It just proved how thin and fragile she was compared to her companions. Not like she'd ever admit to being the weakest link. Pride kept her from doing anything of the sorts.

Stars twinkled above. They shone like a forest full of fireflies. It was so powerful to see that the universe above was still alive.

Common sense told her to go back inside. Common sense told her to wait. She had never listened to it very well. She hardly ever listened to anyone very well. Except Kevin.

She respected him like a god. He would have to be Zeus or something along those lines in Greece. But maybe more powerful. And the fact that he was actually alive and a real person added to his already incredible dynamics. Melody couldn't help but love him. He was strong and defensive, ready to protect the ones he cared about. He had his attitude. It made her crave every second of his attention. But most of all, she loved how much he could understand her like no one else could.

Melody had a ton of problems on her plate. Her sister, Alyse, had died in a Knight shoot out. It was just crossfire. It was just an accident. No one had purposely meant to kill Alyse. She had just died as another teenager gone too young. The last memory that remained of that day was Melody's pain as she fell into the bushes, skinning her knees while being stabbed by what felt like thousands of thorns.

There was no real sense of loss from her sister's death. Melody knew she should've felt pain crashing down on her and making her want to die right then and there, being totally alone now. But it wasn't the kind of bond between sisters that she actually thought it was. Alyse hadn't acually even been related to her. They just traveled on the streets together for a few years. No bond had actually occurred.  
They'd only worked together to survive. That was it. Their association meant nothing after that. There was no reason to even consider themselves sisters.

The first time she'd met Kevin had been like a dream. He'd been a ghost of silence at first, but as soon as they'd hit the subway almost a year ago and when he was showing her around, he'd been an open book to read. She'd learned his body language quickly, watching his strong frame walk around in the darkness, the only lights being weak fluorescents. He had saved her from loneliness. And for some reason, Melody found herself grateful that the Knights had killed Alyse. Like it was destiny. She couldn't say she was sad for Alyse's death, but she couldn't say that she regretted it. If her sister hadn't died, she never would've met Kevin. She never would've fallen in love with him. She never would've seen him. And Melody knew that Kevin was all that she ever wanted in life.

He had crouched down beside her after pacing past the alley like he was anxious to get back to somewhere. But there was silence as his footsteps stopped abruptly. Then Melody had heard hem come closer again and his curious face had peered around the corner. "You okay?" he asked in his street voice. The accent had probably started off as something else, but was now mostly slang terms.

She had felt herself nod, running on automatic. Her body was still coping with healing from the scratches and cuts that covered most of her body from thorns and falling down a lot to get away from the scene of the shooting.

"Want to come with me?" His tone had be ome so soft and gentle. And it was only when I looked up into his eyes with their deep shades of brown that I realized he was kneeling right next to me, actually worried. "I stay with some friends of mine. I think they'll let you stay with them too. If I ask nicely, at least."

It took a few minutes to register that the last part had been a bit of a joke. And She had to smile up at him. It was how nice he was that got her to look at him a second time. It was his gorgeous hair and incredibly hot eyes that got her to try and put herself closer to him. And it got to the point that she never wanted to be away from him. Melody had reached up to him and he had taken her hand.

Carson and Mandy had accepted her. Yeah, she was pretty young compared to them. She was even a year younger than Kevin too. But that didn't mean she couldn't challenge herself to match him step-by-step. She followed along behind Kevin, trailing like a lost puppy. Then she had tried to match his rank, second in command. It never worked. So she fell back into the omega status. And deep down, she knew that Mandy and Carson had never trusted her. Never.

The sky twinkled to life again, one star brighter than the rest. It was a peaceful night. She wanted to go back inside to Kevin. She wanted to curl up against his sturdy chest and Len her black eyes slip shut and clouds from dreamland would carry her away...

It could never happen. There was silence and Melody felt her mind wanting to slip away. She whispered words to herself, just under her breath. Comfort and longing twined into one.

"Wake me up.  
Watch me breathe.  
Hear me sing  
My melody."

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**A/N: there you go. A bit more on Mel. And for those of you who thought it was Melody at Mr. Smoothy, it was Mandy. Just to clear that up. ****Leave a review if you love me! Or even like me… heck, just leave a review!**

**~Sky**


	11. With Melody

**Disclaimer: you clearly know what's mine and what isn't don't you?**

'_Everybody needs inspiration,  
__Everybody needs a song.  
__Beautiful melody  
__When the nights are long'_

_~'When I Look At You', Miley Cyrus_

_**With Melody**_

Her smile just lit up my day. I look carefully at Melody, knowing that she's trying her best to stay inside the garage without being too edgy. She's been a little weird since she got here.

I mean, not just weird like she always was. Melody always had cute little quirks to her. Singing when there was no music playing. Humming while she watched tv, drowning out any words that probably were important. Twirling and dancing like a princess instead of walking like a normal person across the room. Her dress always spun around her when she wore it. Which happened to be most of the time. Again, for being a girl on the streets, it was the dress that had stopped me to look at her.

It was like silk, the nicest thing I'd ever seen since the Null Void. White as ivory, the black streaks bearing a clear resemblance to a piano, as did her hair. The day when I'd seen her had been like a miracle sent from heaven. One piece of beauty among the rubbish. A diamond in the rough. One moment of joy in a world of sorrow. That was always how I felt now. No matter how bad I felt, seeing her would always drive me to force a smile, and sometimes, it wasn't even forced. She was just so bright all the time.

"You're spacing out again, Kevin," she laughed, waving a hand in front of my face. Her eyes were alight with a familiar glow of inner joy that always shone.

I shook my head, trying to get my mind back onto what was going on in the present moment. She held a hammer in her hand for some reason and that made me smile even more than I could even explain. Just the thought of someone as delicate and gentle as her mauling someone with a hammer…

Melody had to be the funniest girl I'd ever met. Always doing something stupid that kind of made sense in her own way.

"Okay, okay," I said, brain warping back into reality. "How many times was that?" Asking was just too tempting. I loved seeing her just think. And when she spaced out, it made her face twist in a cute kind of way.

"Like… seven." Melody managed a shrug, dropping the hammer in the process.

Uncoordinated didn't even describe her. Shrugging and then holding a hammer were two separate things. Two things that she clearly couldn't do at the same time.

Her eyes darted down to follow it as it hit the floor. It resonated with a clatter. Then she looked back up to look at me, a little stupefied smirk stuck on her face. And she giggled uncontrollably. "Oops."

I had to laugh at that, leaning against the car to keep my balance. I swear I would've fallen over if I hadn't had anything to hold onto. My hand touched the cold hood that hid the engine within. "Mel, you are such a moron."

"Yeah, but that's what makes me special," she said, voice cheery and light. Like nothing in the world was wrong. "And it makes you laugh and you smile when I do something stupid. I don't care if I'm a moron or not, as long as you're happy with me." She paused for a moment. "That, and I'm really, really glad I didn't drop that thing on my foot or else it would hurt like hell."

And I found myself laughing even harder. Melody was so innocent, but always worried about the dumbest things. She was so funny that it _hurt_.

"Kevin, you really need to breathe, okay? You look like you're going to die now." She had taken a step or two closer to me, her arms working their way around my neck, fingers twining up and into my hair. "Don't die. Please."

The way she said that drove me insane. "Okay, Mel, you should probably pick up the hammer before you step on it."

Eyes fell to the floor. Then her gaze traveled back up to me. "How about later?" she offered, leaning into me more. Not able to resist any longer, I wrapped my arms around her waist. She let out one long, exhausted sigh. "Kevin, I hate being stuck in here." Her fingers traced circles on the back of my neck.

"Pick up the hammer." I pointed down at the floor. She followed my gesture for a moment before pulling a hand from behind my neck, taking my finger and returning my hand to the small of her back. Her hand retreated to the other one around my neck, twirling my ebony hair around her delicate little finger. "Please," I added, making an attempt to sound nice.

Instead of even bothering to pretend she'd heard me, Melody leaned forward, using her tiptoes to get up to my height. Her lips touched mine so softly that I hardly felt it. Then Mel wove her fingers deeper into my hair and she kissed me harder. I leaned back against the car some more so that I was closer to her level and that seemed to make her just more enthusiastic. She curled her body into mine so that we were woven together like one person.

Breaking away for air minutes later, Melody laughed, her arms thrown around me tightly. "Kevin, I love you." Her breathing was short and in gasps, and I knew how much she meant those three words. Melody never said anything lightly. She never had. Never will. "Don't leave me alone ever again."

I found my heart racing as I couldn't find the air to survive with. "You know I could never do that again." I ran my fingers along her cheek, feeling her soft, glowing skin beneath my touch. "I thought you were dead… I thought it was all over…" I felt myself wanting to break, but I held strong for a bit longer. "I don't want you to ever leave me again. Got that? And don't scare me either…"

Melody's lips touched mine, this time longer and more full of the emotions we were both feeling. The abandonment was washed away. I would never be alone. Fears of loss were cleansed from my mind. I would never again let her go. My head was enveloped in the warmth of her touch, the boiling of blood beneath my skin, the heat that spread across my face, the way my heart felt as if it were about to burst out of my chest.

My hand wove its way around her waist, tighter like a boa constrictor. Her fingers were tangled even more into my hair and I could feel the long strands of ebony becoming dangerously knotted.

There were some things I could never share with Gwen. I couldn't tell her the best of my heists. I couldn't explain to her why I was a criminal. I couldn't be with her like I was freed from the chains of my past. Because I wasn't. Gwen was always changing me because she remembered the past.

When you forget the past, you let free the future.

And I knew where I wanted to be with this future of mine. With the girl with the song.

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**A/N: hmm…. No one has noticed anything... strange yet? I'll have to use the next chapter then… review and I mite not feel the need to kill you…. (jk! But review!)**

**~Sky**


	12. You Deserve to Know

**A/N: think I got this down to a science now. But this story is still really hitting me hard… I love writing it. Especially with the turn this chapter will take. Because no one noticed that something was definitely off with some characters.**

**This chappie iz Gwen's POV**

**Disclaimer: I own: Melody, Carson, and Mandy. Hope you like them!**

* * *

'_I never told you,  
__What I should have said.  
__No, I never told you.  
__I just held it in.'_

_~ 'I Never Told You', Colbie Calliat_

**You Deserve to Know**

"How is Sumo Slammers supposed to fix anything?" I asked staring at the tv screen, with my expression blank. To be honest, I knew it was a terrible, not to mention boring, waste of time to stare at a couple of scarcely dressed fat men as they wrestled each other.

"It always calms me down." Ben offered me some popcorn. I took a handful. Popcorn helped me. Sometimes. I wasn't expecting any miracles at this point though.

My heart had been annihilated by Kevin by some heavy duty weapons or whatever and he wasn't going to even talk to me anymore because he was with that chick in his garage. And I was finally able to say that I hated someone. Her and Kevin.

He was being some kind of stuck up guy now. Not like Morningstar or anything. That guy was a total jerk. But Kevin? No way. He was sweet and nice underneath it, but what had happened was slowly telling me to want him dead. Too bad I still cared about Kevin too much to kill him.

"I'm telling you, Gwen," Ben continued, "Sumo Slammers is very therapeutic. Fighting is very relaxing." He brushed his dark chestnut colored hair from his eyes. "You'd be amazed."

But seriously, the fighting was upsetting me even more.

We were home alone, his parents out on a date night. A creepy thought. I didn't hate being stuck alone with Ben. He was idiotic as a cousin and great at belching the ABCs when needed and he was funny at the worst times. And the terrible part was that almost every stupid thing he did reminded me of Kevin.

It was totally stupid. I know.

There was suddenly a bright flash of blinding orange lights that flooded my vision and I had to force my eyes shut to keep from losing my sight permanently.

When it subsided, I opened one eye.

Carson stood there, face flushed nearly white with the effort. His blue eyes no longer sparkled like they did the first time I met him. His hair was now a bit more ruffled and his knuckles were whitened to the color of ivory.

Mandy was at his side, one delicate hand resting on his broad shoulder. Her caramel eyes zeroed in on me. "Gwen, we know we owe you a lot of explaining and such, but right now, Carson's in some deep shizz. Powers failed halfway here and we nearly fell into the fourth dimension and good God knows what the heck would've happened with that if he hasn't pulled us through and I'd super duper appreciate it if you could help."

Carson wobbled a little bit next to her, clearly unstable.

"I'll get some pillows," announced Ben, getting up and heading into the back of the house near the bedrooms without any questions.

Another funny thing about my cousin: he doesn't bother to ask about the important things. Like how they knew my name. Of course I knew how they knew but he didn't know how they knew.

And I instinctively got to the other side of Carson. Together, Mandy and I steered him towards the couch. When we got him there, he laid down and his ocean blue eyes fluttered shut.

Ben returned. He dropped a bunch of pillows on Carson

"Mucho appreciated," said the blond, voice sounding better than he looked. Carson tucked the pillows to his chest. He seemed to drift off, but something told me he was wide awake and paying attention to everything around him, Vulpimancer senses active.

Mandy fell onto the couch beside him. "I'm real sorry about this."

"It's fine," assured Ben, flipping his hand in a 'pshaw' motion. "Gwen knows you guys apparently because I'm behind on the times and you work at Mr. Smoothy so nothing to worry about."

I raised my eyebrow in Mandy's direction and she responded with a "don't ask" expression.

So I didn't ask about how she and Ben had met at Mr. Smoothy. Mostly because I didn't want to know. "Are you going to be okay?" I asked Carson.

He nodded.

"Now we totally owe you," started Mandy. "And more than just for this. With Kevin and everything because we screwed up by coming here and it was a terrible idea and -"

An animal like guttural snarl came from Carson. "_We needed him_."

Ben had taken a jump back from his resting form when he'd growled. "Okay, what is with him?"

"Anodite and Vulpimancer hybrid," I told him.

"Highbreed?" squeaked my cousin.

"No. He's Anodite and Vulpimancer."

"Then why did you say Highbreed?"

I wanted to smack him. "Hybrid!"

"Vulpimancer?"

"Wildmutt."

"Ahhh..."

Mandy cleared her throat.

"And Mandy." I gestured towards her. "But I guess you two have already met."

"Informally," said Mandy in an explaining voice. "He bought a smoothie, I bugged he crap outta him." She shrugged slightly with a crooked smile. "It's a bit of a win-win situation."

"I got a smoothie," Ben said cheerfully.

"And I got to bother the infamous Ben 10."

Carson rolled off the couch at that. "WHAT? BEN 10?"

"Man, Car, you are _way _behind on the times." Mandy reached down, grabbed his arm and worked on pulling him back onto the couch. She struggled for a few seconds before managing to get him back up there with a mountain of pillows.

He let out another, softer, growl directed at Ben. Then when he seemed to cool off a few seconds later, he said, "Back to the point of why we're here, Mandy."

"Oh my gosh, Gwen, we heard what happened with Kevin and we have to say that he didn't mean to." She said it all with one breath and found herself winded afterwards.

I stared at her. What? How could Kevin not mean to do that? It was clearly deliberate! He had meant every word of it! He had left me destroyed, in pieces, a wreck of society and with enough scars that I knew were permanent. He had done that on purpose. And if he had sent this little patrol of friends to try and fix it, that was not the way to do things. Face to face. I wouldn't take any of his crap anymore. Looking away from her, I folded my arms across my chest. "He's such a jerk."

"No, seriously, if he wasn't so doped up on her, he would've come to some sort of sense and actually thought about what he was doing!" Mandy's eyes were wide and almost fearful. "Kevin's one of the most loyal guys I know, which makes it harder for me to watch him do this."

There was no way we were talking about the same guy. "Then clearly you don't know Kevin."

Mandy half laughed at me. "Really? Who do you think he got his attitude from? Where do you think he learned all the tricks of the trade? What do you think he's been doing for the past two years?" She shook her head. "Obviously, you don't know him or our situation."

"Let me explain," cut in Carson, looking much better than he did ten minutes ago. His ocean blue eyes were shining again and his face was stern once more. "We raised Kevin for a year before you guys met him. He was fifteen when I pulled him out of the Null Void. On accident, of course. The portal just opened and I screwed up and he must've gotten out in the twenty seconds it was open. Now he knows what it's like to be with something a bit like a family. So that's why he's learned loyalty."

"You're not helping me be any more sympathetic towards the moron," I noted, giving a clearly annoyed sigh.

"But when he picked up Melody off the streets, he totally fell in love with her. Puppy eyes. Followed her everywhere. Saying her name in his sleep. The whole shebang." Carson rolled his eyes. "The guy I taught to sleep, breathe, and eat fighting fell in love with a girl."

"Not to mention one that we didn't even know," Mandy cut in shortly before making the 'zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket' motion to say that she was going to shut up after that.

"And now, we're in some deep shizz 'cause that girl was supposed to be watching our place where we hid, stored and tracked every ounce of our stuff-" His voice had now become a hiss. "-dropped the fight and came running back to us." Carson was pissed off to no avail. "Melody is this pristine little sissy girl who has a knack with her voice."

"'Knack' meaning she's totally super over powered," filled in Mandy, staring at me. Clearly the whole 'shutting up' motion was useless now. "Melody is scary powerful. I mean, I wouldn't want to fight her because some frequencies would take out my tech which would leave me as a walking target for her."

"She's some kind of singing alien, apparently," cut in Carson once more. "I mean, frequency jumps, can put out fires, paralyzes, you name it she can do it with her voice and a few short words." His eyes narrowed and a fierce fire lit beneath the ocean blue colors. "Including mind control and something similar to a love potion, but with words and a tune."

My jaw just totally dropped.

It made sense. That girl. The white hair decked out like a piano. The way Kevin was kissing her. The way he looked at her, eyes glazed over the same way they were when he looked at me.

Kevin was hexed. He was charmed. He was bewitched. Spellbound.

"Problem is," Mandy continued, "that we aren't a hundred percent sure if he's under a spell of hers or not. It could be real, but we used to hear her sing a lot back in the subways, one tune always coming instead of any normal song. And we think that it revives the charm on everyone she's ever used it on."

"And no one knows if it's on them or not." Carson's face became buried in his hands. "Melody has told Kevin everything. He knows every small detail of her entire life."

Mandy jumped in once more with a few more words. "And if she doesn't want him to know something-"

"She wipes it from his memory."

Carson's eyes looked up at me sadly. "And if she wanted it, he could forget you in a matter of seconds."

Oh. My. God.

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**A/N: there you go. The real secret behind Melody. Like it? Love it? Review it!**

**~Sky**


	13. A Plan From Ben

**A/N: profile has been updated. Vote on the new poll!**

**Disclaimer: I own Melody, Mandy and Carson. Anyone else, not mine. Neither are the song lyrics in the beginning.**

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**Mandy's POV**

'_I never knew,  
__I never knew that everything was fallin' through  
__That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue  
__To turn and run when all I needed was the truth  
__That's how it's gotta be  
__It's comin' down to nothin' more than apathy  
__I'd rather run the other way than stay and see  
__The smoke and who's still standing when it clears'_

_~'Over My Head (Cable Car)', The Fray_

_**A Plan From Ben?**_

I watched Gwen's face just open up in shock. It was like a whole world had opened up to her. A world that she really didn't need to step foot in. One that she wouldn't have met if it hadn't been for me and Carson and Melody and Kevin. "Kevin... could forget me?"

It was horrible that Carson and I had to nod in unison when we knew it would break her heart. To see her face like that...

Her expression was shattered and destroyed. Gwen's face was like the earth had just exploded. Her whole life gone before her very eyes in less than seconds. And she hadn't even seen it coming.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do anything until we figure out exactly what alien race Melody really is." Carson's voice had taken on a soothing tone, as if he were trying to calm her down. The bonus of being half Vulpimancer was that he recovered fast and easily. The Vulpimancer half of him never failed like the Anodite half did. A cool but weird bonus. "She's too powerful to approach until we can find a cure to clear Kevin's memories. And from there, we'll work to break whatever hold she's got on him. If we can accomplish that much, we're set to take her down."

"And what about your own problems?" asked Gwen. Her emerald eyes were glinting with the newfound hatred for Melody. "The ones in New York."

Carson and I exchanged a worried look. New York hadn't been on our minds as much as taking care of Kevin was. Because Kevin was like our little brother and whatever was hurting him was considered a threat. And Carson and I don't deal well with threats.

"It can be taken care of later," I told her quickly before Carson could unleash the real truth about our New York issues. But it really needed to be taken care of _now_.

Again, Kevin was priority. Kevin was family. He was what really mattered. He was our brother.

"Gwen, just watch out for Kevin. Whatever he said wasn't really him." Carson was looking her dead in the eyes. "He's under her control and he can't do anything to stop her because he doesn't know what's going on. Kevin thinks this is life and he'll do whatever she tells him to without arguing and without thinking about it." He reached out to take her hand. "And I'm sorry to tell you this, but he could very well kill you two if Melody instructed it."

I couldn't do this anymore. I looked down at the plush carpeted floor. The hard thing to believe was that we had brought this demon upon her peaceful life and wrecked it with a simple girl who had hardly been more than a street rat less than a year ago. Then again, she'd fallen in love with a guy who had been a street rat less than a year ago too...

Gwen's eyes went downcast as if she couldn't take this anymore. "So Kevin really..."

"The hard part is that we don't know what she changed and what she didn't. Half of him could be real Kevin. But the rest of it could all be her twisted sides of him that she created." Carson shrugged. "That's the only complication about this whole thing." He watched her carefully and Ben wrapped his arm around his cousin.

And to think that we took Melody in after all those hard times. We brought her into our home when she wasn't even welcome. And she played us like her own personal music boxes, winding us up and letting us fade out slowly.

We were only toys, mere dolls, in the life that she had created around herself. And the death of her sister could've been faked or even purposeful. And maybe she was just playing on our heartstrings to get in and Kevin's memories had been tampered with by Melody's controlling music. Maybe that wasn't even how they'd met. How was this any fair for those of us on the sidelines of it all?

Kevin... He probably didn't even know who he was anymore... And if we tried to tell him, she'd convince him otherwise. Melody would change him into an enemy. He could've turned from good to evil in less than seconds with one of her enchanted hexes in the form of a song. And she might've been able to sing and kill him. If needed.

And maybe coming to get him was the worst thing we ever could've done.

"So Kevin is under mind control?" asked the brunette Tennyson.

I gave him a small nod.

"So we'd need to find another alien with mind control..." Ben stared at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Is there any chance that Melody could be an animal?"

Whatever this boy had up his sleeve was bound to be good.

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**A/N: I don't know if you guys could guess, but just think about it. Why would Ben ask that stupid question? Leave a review! Pity Gwen!**

**~Sky**


	14. Mesmerized

**A/N: got a date with my boyfriend tomorrow and I wrote a little bit of this yesterday and this morning. This song that I used is perfect for this part of the fic. At least the last part of it anyways. Btw, Carson's POV**

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_'Broken hearts and last goodbyes,  
Restless nights by lullabies,  
Help to make this pain go away.'  
~'Sorry', Jonas Brothers_

_**Mesmerized**_

I stalked close behind Ben. He was silent. Which was amazing. He didn't make a sound as we got closer to this hideout. Just a massive clock tower.

So old school villain.

Ben said this was good for us. The girls were going after Dr. Animo. Whoever that was. We had Sublimino. Again, whoever that was.

But Ben suggested that we use mind control right back. Which made sense. Kind of. Except that we had no experience in mind control and Melody had been working on Kevin for a year. She had time and experience. We had a kid with a watch (a very special watch according to Mandy), a brokenhearted redhead with Anodite powers that could possibly get out of control, Mandy (not a great advantage if she wasn't armed and dangerous), and me, failing powers and all. Yeah, this team was perfectly fine and dandy.

Note the sarcasm!

Ben looked at it, green eyes squinting. There. Midnight struck and the clock tower rang loud and clear twelve times. Ben moved forward and lunged through the brush like a ninja.

I walked like a normal person, just crouched down a little bit more so that no one could see my head. And I looked over Ben's shoulder as a small guy came from the bottom floor. A massive clock was around his neck, seeming too heavy for his small neck to hold up. Very funny.

Doing a long series of hand motions, Ben looked back at me.

Not knowing what the heck that meant, I just blinked a few times and stuttered, "What?"

"Object of mission: the-"

"Ben, English before my head explodes. I don't care what we're doin' we just gotta work fast and pray that this helps Kevin." Let's just say I have a zero patience level for class A idiots. Ben definitely falls in that category. Without even trying.

"Okay, okay." He leapt out of the bushes and charged for the small person.

Wow. What strategy...

More sarcasm. Keep that in mind.

Ben stared at the small dwarf-like man. Okay, this was sickening. He was drooling. I wrapped up the little man in an orange bubble of mana. He was out cold and unconcious in a matter of seconds because I drained his air. I'm totally smart, right? So I hauled Ben over one shoulder and dragged the small man by his shirt behind me.

Drooling idiots and small hypnotic men. A strange yet funny night...

We met up with the girls who had a horned (well fake horns) man trapped in a bubble of mana and a helmet in Mandy's hand who was tampering with it, fingers working impossibly hard on it like it was all that mattered. To her, it _was_ all that mattered. And it made me worry about her a little bit.

"Got Animo," said Gwen as she saw me approach. "And you have Sublimino _and _my doofus cousin." She put a hand to her forehead and began to massage her temples. "He's a great teammate, isn't he?"

Chuckling, I nodded. "He's great with random strategizing. Mostly charging, becoming a victim and leaving the rest to someone else so they can clean it up." I dropped Ben on the floor against a wall. The little Sublimino guy was wrapped with Gwen's pink glowing energy close to he Animo dude.

Mandy put down her little squirt gun. "You don't realize how threatening I am with one of these things when no one knows what it actually is," she giggled, coming to my side and poking me with it repeatedly in the shoulder.

"Yeah, I definitely see how that works." I took it from her and dropped it on Ben. "Now how's this supposed to work again, Red?"

Gwen gave me a slightly irritated stare before sighing real quick and explaining. "The watch around his neck is a hypnotic device. Take it, use it on Melody, get her to fix Kevin and then set her as a nicer person before letting her run off and whatever. If the watch doesn't work, we can try setting Animo's equipment to her DNA signature and hope that it works because it's actually meant for animals, not people."

I blinked a couple of times. "You're hilarious."

"What?"

I shook my head and sighed and looked down at Ben. "Gwen, you don't get how powerful Mel really is. She could kill him on a whim. Whenever she wanted to. If he figures out something that she doesn't like, he'll drop dead the second she says something. We could try this, but if she catches on and it gets violent or something, Kevin could be killed. Just out of spite." I gave her my best sympathetic look. "Sorry, Red, but this is a kind of dangerous plan."

"Not if she's unconscious." Gwen ripped away the watch necklace from Sublimino as Mandy worked on Animo's headgear to switch the DNA signatures and the mind control settings. "I've got spells that could put her out cold for long enough-"

"Kevin might fight back," I responded. I knew what she was getting at though. "All he knows is that me and Mandy are taking care of him and that Melody loves him and he loves her, but if he sees us hurting her, it could get ugly."

"We don't want to fight him," said Mandy, looking up from her work. "We care about Kevin too much. And Carson knows exactly how to take him either down or out. It wouldn't be a problem, but it's morally wrong to try and fight the ones you love."

Gwen sighed and leaned on the side of Ben's house where we had met up. "Because we're supposed to fight _for _them, not _against_ them."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, Red, but if it comes down to us fighting Kevin, we're out. I won't fight him."

"Me either," murmured Mandy softly, eyes trailing back down to her work. "Sorry, Gwen." She kept tampering with the equipment, quieter now.

"Guys..." I heard her voice cracking and shaking and breaking. "You can't just leave me and Ben to save him."

"There are other ways," I told her. "But I won't fight him."

Mandy repeated, "Me either."

Gwen stared at us. "It'll work. I promise that this will work, Carson. You have to believe that it will. Please just believe me." Her emerald eyes were welling with sapphire tinted tears. "I love Kevin and I won't fight him either. Not unless I really, really have to." She was ready to just break down and crash and cry and just let it all go. So I guess it was good that she had two pretty sympathetic people with her. "And I need you guys to help me. Please. I believe it will work."

I smiled at her, knowing that all she needed was some reassurance. "Alright, Red. We'll help you as much as we can."

Her face lit up like the night sky, bright and twinkling, eyes sparkling. Gwen started gushing out thanks and how grateful she was and it all just blew over my head. I figured out why Kevin liked this girl so much. She had this little shine about her, one that was hard to find. Inner beauty and outer beauty. And she was kind.

Which led me to ask myself: how the heck did Kevin get this chick?

Moments later, Ben came to, groggily opening his eyes that were practically matted shut with exhaustion. His head lifted and lolled for a few seconds. "Watch out for the trouble dolls," he muttered, voice still half asleep. Then it fell back against the wall and his shoulder as a soft snore escaped him.

And Mandy grinned her fierce grin. "Your cousin's funny."

Gwen rolled her eyes and gave a snort of a laugh. "Funny _looking_ maybe."

Oh yes. I think I could get used to hanging out with these guys.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Kevin's POV**

Melody and I had been curled up and laying on the couch in my garage for nearly an hour now. She just liked laying wrapped in my arms and her head buried in the crook of my neck as she breathed in and out. "Kevin?"

I could only respond with a "Hmm?" as I stroked her hair sweetly running my fingers through it and feeling the soft as silk texture against my skin. Melody was what I wanted and what I needed.

"Are you okay?" She pulled her face from my neck. Her hand found it's way to my cheek and traced my jawline. "Something just feels wrong." Her long hair flowed across my black shirt. "I don't know what it is..."

In all honesty, it was guilt. I felt bad for leaving Gwen like that without the answers she wanted. And she was the kind of girl who would search for the answers as long as she had to until she could unearth something that she wanted. But that was just Gwen.

And to be even more honest, I still wasn't over her yet.

I kissed Melody's forehead, letting my lips linger there until the tension and stress of worry had drained from her body. She sank down on me again, a soft sigh escaping her. And I pulled away slowly. "Everything's fine, Mel. Just relax."

I'd been lying to myself this whole time. Nothing was fine. Nothing was good. I couldn't just relax. I wanted to see Gwen again. And not just to settle things with her.

Her form melted once again, falling limp. "Alright," she said with a slight huff to her voice. And I knew she was still worried.

My arm tightened around her. "Relax, Mel."

She did. "Want me to sing a little?" Her eyes brightened up a little and she snuggled closer into my chest. "Just for you?"

And I nodded. Whenever she sang, all I knew was that it felt like heaven just to hear her voice so sweet and angelic and perfect and wonderful and incredibly amazing. It was like getting some serious ecstasy pumped straight into my bloodstream.

She kissed my cheek with a quick peck. Melody's arms looped themselves around my neck. Her lips opened just a bit so she could sing.

_"You left my heart with a hole  
A lingering story untold  
Watch this life before us unfold  
And yet I am still alone."_

I felt my mind go fuzzy and I leaned forward a little so that a kiss found the corner of her lips. Melody's jaw tightened under my lips. "Kevin..."

My arm tightened around her. "Mel..." I countered with a short chuckle. Even though I could hear the serious underlying tone in her voice.

She sighed contently and leaned into my before singing a few more bars for me before we were just going to curl up there in silence for a few more hours.

_"Wake me up  
Watch me breathe  
Hear me sing  
My melody."_

My mind went totally numb and all I knew was that the guilt of Gwen had been washed from my thoughts. And all I knew was that I wanted Melody. I wanted Melody so badly that I could taste it. I ran one hand up her spine and twined it in her hair as her lips met mine for yet another passionate kiss. All I'd ever wanted was Melody.

My Melody.

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**A/N: I've had some people saying they want to see a happy Gwevin ending and others saying Melody and Kevin. confusing, much? Lol! I don't know how to end it now! Vote in a review and send in your thoughts on this chapter! Thanks a ton!**

**~Sky**


	15. Innocence

**A/N: back, and no worries do I have plans… Kasta and I were just in the pool moments ago and we have agreed to co-write many things now, most of them to be posted on her account due to the fact that she's slow. Aaannnyyywaaayzzz, got big plans, mi readers. Big, big, BIG plans…. Hehehehe… anyways, here's some Melody for ya. Enjoy it while you got it.**

**Disclaimer: Melody, Carson, and Mandy are mine. If you would like to you them, ask or die.**

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'_Hope  
__Dangles on a string  
__Like slow spinning redemption'  
__~'Vindicated', Dashboard Confessional_

**Innocence**

Catching on had never been hard for me. I'd understood the family factor that Kevin, Mandy and Carson craved. So I gave them that youngest sibling act that I had nearly perfected after so many times of using it.

And eventually, Kevin had become attached to me. Emotionally. I couldn't help it. I do know that he did it for real. Before I even reached my grip for him to take over his most intimate thoughts. And I gave it up for a long time, just letting him tag along with loving me.

Until he finally got the guts to say it. And he knew that he wanted it. He knew that he had feelings for me that were deeper than most of the others that he was capable of. He was able to hate and despise and care for and kill without thinking, but I don't ever think that he had once loved before. And I don't ever think he'd been loved either.

His was real. I never had to force it on Kevin. I just showed him that I really cared about him, even if it was in a bit more of a brotherly way. And I let him in. I gave him the satisfaction of kissing me. I gave him the emotions he wanted to feel. I gave him what he deserved. Love.

The deeper we got into it, the more I realized I needed him. He was my drug. I needed him to keep me functioning normally. I needed him to keep me warm at night or else I would die. I needed him to be that guardian angel that I had never before deserved. He was my last bit of humanity that remained. He kept me from going anywhere. He kept me from wanting to die. He buried the guilt deep inside of me without knowing that there was any.

And I was feeding him what he wanted and needed. The affection he had always been denied. The idea of love forthe heart and a family for the well-being of his spirit. And with Mandy and Carson, I knew that we were unstoppable. We were a ring. We were a family. Nothing was going to keep that from us.

Sure, I screwed up every other day. Sure, I was never that perfect little sweetheart. I lied. I cheated. I did a lot of things none of us should have even thought of. And leave it to me to get us all into some serious crap that dug four graves, each marked with a name that I considered to be the people that I couldn't let go of. Ever.

And Kevin defended me. He was the one to always set us straight, but when he was on my side, Mandy and Carson could never argue. Mandy's weaponry would kill Kevin if she tried to set him straight and Carson's powers were constantly buzzing out. So Kevin was our powerhouse fighter. The champion of all. But he never used it. He took his place as third in command with dignity and never protested. Until he defended me.

And that night, as Kevin and I were lying next to each other on our beds that we had pushed side by side, he had curled his muscular arms around me and told me everything was going to be fine. He told me he was going to fix it so I didn't have to. And I didn't want him to do that. After all he did for me without knowing it, I needed to fix things back to the way they used to be so he didn't have to. To help him.

And on that same night, as Kevin was snoring softly beside me, my body pressed tightly against his, Mandy and Carson's voices were penetrating through the walls of the subway. Ticket booths on each sides functioned as rooms and they had their voices raised in fierce whispers.

"She's not on our side anymore, Mand. She's corrupted Kevin already and how many more risks are we going to take before one of us ends up dead?" came Carson's near snarl.

A sigh escaped Mandy. "Car, you can't tell me that you don't trust her just-"

"She blew a serious deal and set Knights all over the streets searching for us! Now your low on tech and Mel and Kevin are working on their own side! Where do /I/ fall into us? If Kevin's screwed and your low on tech and my powers buzz out and Melody's out to get us, we're defenseless!" I heard his hand slap fiercely against one of the countertops Kevin had put in near the area we considered a kitchen and workspace. "You want us to die in the hands of a girl that took over our brother!"

Kevin had twitched in his sleep beside me. I stroked the ebony locks of his hair softly and kissed his cheek. His smile widened despite him being asleep.

"Carson, please don't jump to conclusions yet. You and Kevin can head out, load me up, and we're good to go. Knights won't stand a chance," Mandy said, sounding close to begging or pleading instead of the strong soul I had always seen behind those chocolate brown eyes. "We'll have nothing to worry about."

There was the sound of familiar ruffling hair as Carson shook his head and sighed. "Mandy, you're my sister. I hate taking care of you when I really shouldn't have to, but we're in it together now. And you think this is just an overnight blowout. But it's not." Another deep, breathy sigh came.

Mandy's voice followed quickly with a solemn tone to it. "It's war."

And without looking, I knew Carson was nodding. I buried my face in Kevin's chest, letting his New York street scent wash away all the words said. I wanted to forget and I wanted to drown my lies and my faults, but instead, Kevin washes them away for me. He did it without knowing.

The fire that Kevin left us in was caused my me. The wrong tune slipped while Kevin was trying to burn down a shed of weapons in the back and the whole place caught because of a little word slip. And Carson, Mandy and I were left to die in that fiery grave.

The guilt rolled at me from Kevin and I knew he was scarred with the thoughts of killing his only family, the only ones who had taken him in when he desperately needed it. All I knew anymore was that I had killed what had saved Kevin.

But when we got back to the subways, the place was empty. Kevin's stuff had vanished. His beloved Camaro was nowhere in sight.

He was gone. Mandy cried for a day or so. Carson was just furious that he hadn't been able to fix things himself. And I was left wallowing in my sorrow. I was left to rot in my own grave. And from then on, we tried to save the stashes of weapons for Mandy, each one ending in failure. Without our brawn, it was all useless. Without Kevin, we were nothing.

Finding him again had taken a full reboot of Carson's powers and a lot of patience. The thought of him wiping away my fears and pains and letting me ball my fists in his shirt while I cried over how happy I was to see him... The only thing I had ever know with Kevin was joy and love and emotions that ran so deep that they were unexplainable. But Carson told me something about his aura was off and it reeked of hard times. But he knew it reeked of that Gwen girl and he just didn't want to tell me.

Nothing stopped me from hearing the discussion that night. The lack of Kevin breathing beside me had me wide awake. I had never been able to sleep in silence. Kevin made sleeping easier. Carson told Mandy that he had seen Kevin with a redhead. And he was smiling. And his aura was glowing with peace of mind. And only when he was alone could Carson feel the gnawing guilt falling off in waves that crashed all around him.

And waking up from this nightmare is me. The person I've become. The guilt bottling up. The lies stacked in bins. The pain finally breaking through the nearly healed wounds.

I opened my eyes to see Kevin smiling in his sleep. He knew I was with him. He kept his grip on me a little tighter. His long ebony hair was laced around those two obsidian orbs of beauty...

I couldn't take knowing that I'd pulled him away from love. I couldn't wake him. I couldn't smile again. I'd taken him away from somewhere where he'd been happy once before. Just because I wanted my drug that would drown the pain without making it disappear. I buried my face in his chest, hoping the pain would ease so I could sleep a little bit longer. The morning was going to be miserable and I knew it. There'd be a fight. I'd have to control Kevin to be on my side.

Because innocence only goes so far...

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**A/N: now let me ask again, Gwevin or Kev/Mel? Don't forget to review or I shall send Melody to your house and take you as her minion. Bye!**

**~Sky**


	16. Beyond Truth

**A/N: I have a very emotional chapter here. The POV is a little tricky tho… it's hard to tell for the moment who I'm going to make it from. But it's between Carson and Melody, but I think I'm going to have to go with Carson… even tho the way that I'd have to write it wouldn't make much sense… just go with it. Carson's POV**

**Disclaimer: own Mel, Mand, and Car**

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_"Bury me in honor  
__When I'm dead and hit the ground  
__A love back home it unfolds  
__If you love me  
__Won't you let me know?"  
__~'Violet Hill', Coldplay_

**Beyond Honest**

I approached the garage, medallion watch in my hand. This wasn't going to be easy. This wasn't going to be hard. It was just Melody. She was just a lying, betraying demon. No big deal, right? I can deal with easy stuff like that.

"Carson, I know why you're here."

Crap. So much for stealth. But who would be better, me or Ben? Exactly.

"Carson, you have to listen to me for a few minutes, okay?" Her lithe body came out of a backroom of the garage, her silky ivory dress clinging to her petite frame. "I promise it's not what you think. I swear it." Her white hair cascaded down around her face, the streaks of ebony running through it seeming darker than ever.

I pulled myself into the garage, the light bathing over me. "Mel, I don't know if I should listen to you or not because the second you open your mouth, I don't know what'll come out of it." I gave her my cold stare, letting her know that I had no faith or trust in her because she was a traitor to us.

"Please put down the watch thing and I can explain everything. I know you don't want it broken and I don't either."

"So now you're a mind reader?" I snarled. I wasn't going to hide my distrust from her anymore. I didn't care who she was or why she was still hanging around. I wasn't going to give two craps about it because she lost our subway, she lost Mandy's stuff and she made us lose Kevin. There are some things a guy can't forgive completely. Especially not when she made me lose my only brother. "Melody, you can't do this to us."

Her eyes cast downwards. "I hate having to do this, Car, but it's the only way you'll listen to me." Then she looked up at me, her lips slightly open.

_"Down is low  
__Falling is for the heart  
__Time to be quiet  
__Down you go"_

I felt like my legs had suddenly stopped working and I felt myself collapse to the cold concrete floor of the garage like a bag of bricks. My head was suddenly throbbing with a massive headache that had suddenly seized me. "You did that to me," I growled. "I can't believe you, Melody. I gave you a home and shelter and food and a reason to live and you betray us like this?"

She was standing over me instants later, her dark eyes welling with cold tears. "I'm sorry, Carson. You won't believe me, but I'm so sorry. I hate doing this to you."

"Then tell me why you're controlling Kevin." I struggled back to my feet, but I could feel that my feet weren't working. I couldn't feel my legs. "Why do you need him so desperately?"

"Carson, I'm going to tell you something that's more important than the rest of the world to me." She got down to her knees beside me and I felt how small she really was and how frail and breakable she could be. "My sister didn't die in Knight crossfire. She was kidnapped." She leaned a little closer to me. The tears were sliding down her porcelain cheeks.

"Then why did you join us instead of going after her?" I snarled, struggling to try to get up, only to find that almost my entire body was shut down. I couldn't feel the concrete floor any longer. I couldn't feel the cold seeping through my shirt. It was like my entire body was shutting down. "You could save her instead of being with us."

"No. I'm saving her by being with you." She stroked a few strands of hair away from my eyes. "They wanted something from me that they couldn't get. Something only an undercover girl could get. Someone like me."

I tried to thrash. I tried to reach and grab the watch that had been dropped by my hand involuntarily. It was only a few inches from my fingertips. I should've been able to get it. "Melody, let me go."

"Carson, I need you to stop me. I need you to stop me and I need you to get my sister back, but I can't tell you this."

I just wish I could've slapped her so hard. I could see Mandy slapping her silly and enjoying it more than she enjoyed shooting up a barge in the middle of the ocean. And she loved shooting barges. "Do you know how contradictory it is for you to be telling me this and then saying that you can't tell me this?"

Her eyes were dark and almost haunted. "They want Kevin. I'm working for the Knights to get to Kevin. He found me by accident and I took advantage of it. My sister really is being held captive and all I need is for you to stop me and get her back or take out the Knights for good." She swallowed hard. "And in the worst case, kill me, alright? Just kill me. It'll be for the best. Just make it an accident and make it easy on Kevin."

"You're controlling him because you need him?" I asked, finding my voice growing weaker almost as my body gave way to whatever spell she'd cast on me.

"I'm not controlling him. He really does care about me. I just take away the pain because he took away mine by taking me in and giving me his love." She stroked my cheek with the soft touch of her fingertips. "He healed me inside and I'm doing the same for him by taking away his guilt about Gwen. I'm trying to heal him like he did for me. I'm not controlling him." Melody's dark hair billowed out, coming from behind her ear and cascading around her face as she looked down at me. "I could never hurt Kevin like that." Another tear left a trail down her cheek.

I sighed. For some reason, this was making so much more sense to me. Melody wasn't always mean to us. She was a little sketchy for a while and my trust in her had failed many times, but now I kind of understood where she was in this whole situation. Struggling to stay afloat on a sinking ship.

"Carson," she began again, "I'm so sorry that I couldn't tell you guys. But they said I had to kill you and Mandy. This solution is better. They took the subway and beat me around a lot. I did the best I could to get them to stop, but I figured that if it was destroyed, you wouldn't have to go back. And if you and Mandy stayed here, you would be considered as dead to them and I wouldn't have to kill you." The tears were still spilling from her dark sparkling eyes. "And then I wouldn't be leaving the Tennyson's short a teammate because they'd have you and Mandy. And it made sense. I'm sorry. I wish I could've explained this before. But you have to believe me that I'm not doing any of this because I want to."

My words were slightly slurred when I said, "Mel, we can help." It sounded like I was drunk. My tongue was going numb. God, what did she do to me?

"No. It's too dangerous. My sister can get away and she can come find you guys and then she can take you back so you guys can save me and Kevin. I don't want to be stuck there, Carson." Her voice was quivering. "I hate to see you like this." She brushed some more stray strands of hair out of my eyes.

I found my eyes feeling heavy, but I wasn't tired. I felt like I was just shutting down on the inside and my body was reacting by going numb. "Melody…" I murmured before my eyes fell shut.

Another tear fell from her eye and right onto my cheek. I felt it drip down, cold as ice against my skin. And I knewI was feeling totally sorry for her. She was miserable and we were only trying to fix things by only making it worse. Melody let out a gasp and a short cry and I thought I heard her double over. "I'm sorry. I have to do it. Unless you can fix it. You need to stop me." A choked sob escaped her. "And I have to do this too, Carson. I'm so sorry.

_"Goodnight  
__My sweet prince  
__Tomorrow you will wake  
__Mind cleansed of tonight"_

With that, I was out cold in a matter of moments. But only after hearing the shatter of the pendulum that was supposed to stop everything and another pained sob from Melody.

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**A/N: suck it up, Mel-haters. she wasn't really controlling Kevin to love her. She was wiping away his pain because he did it for her. What they had was totally, 100% real. But Gwevin hasn't been forgotten yet. Maybe Kevin will change his mind… Anyways, don't forget that extremely helpful review button. It'll be very good to get another chapter up fast!**

**~Sky**


	17. Yes or No

**A/N: okay, I was going to write a few minz ago until my mom closed out of my word document (thanks to her computer incompetence). So time to start over.**

**Now I know this is getting to be one of my more popular stories, so I'm going to say that I'm thinking about 6 more chapters including this one 'til the end. And I've got it all planned out. So no worries. The end is near. Ben's POV.**

**Disclaimer: Love. Tacos. Don't own anyone except Melody, Carson, and Mandy.**

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_'Confusion never stops  
__Closing walls and ticking clocks'  
__~'Clocks', Coldplay_

**Yes or No**

Mandy had carried Carson into my house this morning, pretty much dragging him behind her across the sidewalk with a little help from Gwen who had tagged along earlier. Now we were all surrounding him. Mandy said he'd been unconscious on the couch since she went in last night after getting back from Mr. Smoothy. Kevin and Melody had said he was sleeping on the couch.

Obviously, none of us believed them. It was too risky to believe them. Especially in these limited circumstances.

And I watched Carson while Gwen and Mandy made some snacks in my kitchen. I mean, the girls were awesome, but leaving me with a boring job at staring at a guy older than me while he either A) sleeps or B) is unconscious does get boring after a bit. So I flipped on Sumo Slammers. Because, really, what else was I supposed to do?

Kenko was pounding the crap out of a building (weird, right?) when I heard a moan. I looked at the couch and saw that Carson had pulled a pillow over his face. Then there was some muttering about it smelling like fried chicken when he threw it at me.

"Guys, he's awake!" I called, getting to my feet and poking Carson with the tv remote. I don't want to touch a possibly pissed off Anodite Wildmutt Highbreed guy. So if something happens, the remote gets snapped in two instead of my arm. A goalie with an arm missing doesn't make for a good goalie. I poked him again and his hand flashed out and snatched the remote from the grasp, snapping it in two effortlessly.

I sighed. How was I supposed to explain that to my parents?

Mandy was already in the room, stumbling over her own feet and then over the coffee table to get to Carson's side. She had her own coordination, but in a totally normal scenario, she was a wreck. And probably without someone standing by her side, she really had nothing to go off of. I had to guess that without Carson and Kevin, Mandy wasn't the same girl as she always came off as. "Okay, Car, can you hear me?"

I snickered which earned me a glare from her. I immediately stopped laughing.

Gwen came in a moment later, a towel in hand. "He's awake?" she asked, still looming in the doorway instead of coming in all the way. Without saying a word, I held up the remote and all she said was, "Ah." And she didn't move from her spot in the doorframe.

Mandy was staring intently at Carson, holding his hand while he moaned again, one hand against his head. "God, this freaking headache won't go away." He stretched out on the couch, feet laying across the spot where I had been sitting earlier. And I had to say, the dude was freaking tall. Like, even taller than Kevin. And that was a scary thought.

"I'll get him some painkillers," said Gwen, turning around and tossing the towel into the kitchen before darting to the hall where my bedroom was located.

And Mandy didn't give him a second to say another word before her quick paced interrogation started. "Did she hurt you? What happened? I couldn't find the fancy watch thing so she must have it- And oh my gosh, did she hit your head or something? Where does it hurt? Are you alright?" Her breathing was a bit ragged after all the questions. She was practically panting. Clearly she didn't get the concept of breathing between sentences… "Carson, at least speak to me, please."

"Mandy," he said, ocean blue eyes flickering open for a moment, "that pillow smells like fried chicken." He pointed at me. Or at least I thought he was pointing at me. Maybe he was trying to point at the pillow that smelled like fried chicken. I don't know. But it was confusing for me.

"Car," breathed the blonde, chocolate orbs narrowing at her friend.

I snickered again.

"WHAT IS SO FUNNY?"

"You called him a car," I chuckled.

She whacked me with the broken remote. How did she even get it? Last time I checked, I was holding it in my hand and then she's hitting me with things!

Carson sat up, propping himself with one hand. "I can't remember, Mand." His gaze was glazed over in confusion. "I don't remember anything that happened last night." He shook his head and took his hand from Mandy's, running it through his hair.

"Nothing?" she asked, voice squeaking a bit.

"Nothing," he said, taking a deep breath and tucking his knees to his chest. "It's like I blacked out or something." His eyes closed again and I saw him hold his head. "But this hurts like crazy." Carson sat like that for the longest time. "I can't believe that I don't remember anything."

There was a stretched out silence right there. Mandy was in her own little buzz of panic, sitting in a silent body as she thought. Her eyes were somewhat betraying the shock and I was just quiet. Carson was trying to remember things so he wasn't making a peep.

"Do you remember if she said anything?" asked Mandy after a long period of time. "Maybe-"

Carson cut her off simply, staring at her with his serious blue eyes. "She's not controlling him. That much I'm sure of, Mand." His face wasn't cracking and he was grave about this. "I know that Melody isn't hurting him at all."

"Then why can't you remember anything?" asked Mandy, almost yelling as she stood up from sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Why can't you remember what happened, Carson?"

He looked up at her, eyes anguished. "I don't know! I want to be able to remember with all my heart, Mandy, but I can't! I can't remember, but for some reason I trust her! She's not controlling him and she's not hurting him and she's not out to get us! Melody genuinely cares!"

A short silence followed. Carson and Mandy stared at each other, her staring down at him and him up at her.

Then his voice came one more time. "Please, Mandy. I know she wouldn't set me up to lie to you. I wouldn't lie to you and I never could even if I tried. You know me too well." He was staring up at her, eyes desperate. "I can't lie to you. I trust Melody. Now the question is, do you trust me?"

Mandy sat back down and put her face in her hands. "Oh. God." I watched as she wiped some tears from her eyes in her silence, trying to do it subtly so no one noticed. No one would watch her cry. Her eyes met his and she gave him a slight nod before hiding her face once again."God, Carson…"

"I trust that she's not doing a single thing to Kevin with malicious intent." Carson winced slightly. I expected it to be his headache. "But I don't know if she's entirely clean though." He winced again. "My head is like exploding in there." He tapped on his skull. "Don't explode, please," he muttered with a smile.

The girl was still sitting on the table. "Alright, so maybe she's up to something at least?" asked Mandy, eyes almost hopeful. "I don't think that we're entirely wrong, Car."

I fought off a snicker.

"We're probably right, but she's doing it by force, that much I know." His face twisted into a grimace and he held his head in his hands. "Not by choice." He moaned again. "Mandy, where's Gwen with the painkiller things?"

I looked back into the hallway where my cousin had disappeared. It was silent. "I'll go see if I can find her," I said, rising from sitting on the arm of the couch. I headed down the hall and looked in the bathroom's door. No sign of my cousin. It didn't even look like the medicine cabinet had been opened. "Gwen?"

No sound. Not a peep. Not even a strand of red hair.

I headed down the hall and looked into my parent's room. Not a single sign of my cousin. I rushed down to my room and looked in only to see an open window. "Gwen," I breathed, grabbing my jacket off my chair and running back down the hall. "She's gone."

Carson and Mandy exchanged a worried look. "She's going after Kevin," breathed Mandy rising to her feet. "We've got to stop her. She doesn't know what she's dealing with."

And Carson just shook his head with a sad smile. "She's already done for."

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**A/N: just out of curiosity, once this fic is over, who'd like to see more of Melody, Carson and Mandy? Maybe like before Kevin came to Bellwood. So back in New York or something? Just send in a review. Thanks!**

**~Sky**


	18. Confrontation

**A/N: I finally got the ending figured out. I kind of had an idea for it for a while. Since the beginning, actually. But turmoil changed it a lot, but it's settled now. Just time to get to writing out the last 5 chapters. Gwen's POV.**

**Disclaimer: I own Melody, Carson and Mandy. Nothing else. Man of Action owns everything else.**

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_"Then you see there's no fear at all  
You held my hand, we took down that wall  
As I looked at you with nothin' to say  
Now I understand why you pushed me away  
I looked hard and now I see  
That the only one I needed was me"  
~'The Last Song', Hilary Duff_

**Confrontation**

I climbed through the thick bushes outside Ben's bedroom window to escape. I never knew the shrubbery there was so lush. It had me trapped for a few minutes before I could untangle the worse knots in my hair and pull my blouse from the snagging bushes that ripped the threads from the pieces of cloth they were attached to. I tore a small corner from my skirt, but it was alright. I could sew it up later if need be.

So I sprinted in the direction of the garage. I knew Kevin would be there. He might've been there with Melody, but if I could at least get him outside and talk some sense into him then maybe I stood a chance. And if I was lucky, I could come up with a spell to create a soundproof barrier around her that'd keep her imprisoned for long enough for me to talk to Kevin and maybe knock some sense back into him and get that seductive girl out of his head.

I could see the bright, cherry red fire hydrant at the corner that signaled how far I was from the garage. I had another two minute run to the hydrant and rounding that corner meant it was another minute sprint to the garage. Ben's house wasn't too far. I was grateful for that.

Rounding the corner, I saw Kevin standing right by the telephone pole directly across the street from the garage, leaning against it with one leg propping himself up and the other crooked up so that the sole of his dark combat boot was right along the light wood pole. He was just staring at the sky with those dark obsidian orbs of his, hands buried deep in his pockets.

All I did was stand there at the corner for a few seconds, knowing he wasn't paying any sort of attention to me. He was distracted by something. I assumed he was lost in thought, one thing that didn't happen very often with Kevin. So I took the opportunity to smooth out my messy hair and to pull my shirt back to it's normal position. I fixed the locket at the base of my throat before slowly beginning my way towards him.

And the whole time I was heading for him, he never looked at me. He never budged, never twitched. I couldn't even tell if he was breathing. I was somewhat worried, but I couldn't act like I was anxious about him. I was the ex. I was supposed to not care. For some reason, I actually broke it off with him because he broke a promise. Now I look back and think that it was entirely my fault. So I broke up with him even though he instigated it so that I'd break up with him and now I want him back because I broke up with him and that was a really, really stupid mistake...

Reality is so twisted.

I was maybe a few yards away from him when his head tilted towards me. I guess he picked up the soft sound of the clicking of my heels and that must've tipped him off that it was me and not some serial killer. And slowly, his blackened gaze found me. "Hey, Gwen."

"Kevin, we need to talk," I started, knowing this would be how it needed to start. Because this was do or die. I'd either win him over or lose him forever. There's no middle ground in love. When people say, "We can still be friends", it doesn't work that way. It never works that way. Nothing ever works like it should.

"I know we do." He shifted his foot back tithe ground and kicked off so that he wasn't leaning against the pole anymore. He was standing upright and watching me with his careful eyes. Those dark orbs were boring through me. I felt like he was firing laser lances through my porcelain skin. Kevin was just being so... There wasn't really a word for it. But I could sense some slow, steady honesty to his voice and he was standing up tall, towering over me like he always did. But there was something about the way he held his head and the way he was just so natural at that moment that caught me off guard. He was almost like a totally different person. "Gwen, I'm sorry."

When that hit me, I just wanted to break down and cry, falling into his chest and start apologizing for everything that I ever said to him that could've possibly been mean. I loved Kevin and losing him wasn't an option. I couldn't live without him. He was my lifeline, my one joy. A world without Kevin would be like a world with no air.

Instead, I held my head up high and stared right back up at him. "I know what's going on, Kevin. You're not yourself anymore. You're changing and I can see it." I felt my heart breaking slowly and painfully, the dagger in my heart coming out and hen being driven right back in again, harder this time knowing that I was actually saying these words. "Mandy and Carson told me." I gulped a shallow breath. "About Melody."

A small, cropped emotion crossed his features before they turned hard as stone once more. Before, his face was solemn and regretting. Now he was putting up his defenses. He would turn into Fort Levin: an impenetrable fortress of stone and dark walls and endless chambers and a dungeon of Hell. Kevin was now an aggressive machine. "What are you talking about?" he hissed, his breath hitting my face. "You don't know anything."

"You hide your past." I took a step towards him. "You've been in the Null Void. You're on parole. You're an honest guy. You know right from wrong but you choose to ignore it." I took another step and he took one away from me. "You're not Kevin 11 anymore. You're Kevin Ethan Levin with a mother who loves you and the perfect life any kid could ask for in Bellwood." Another step from me. Another retreat from Kevin. "You know loyalty and friendship and family. You have hopes and dreams. You have determination and you've got the opportunity to be a Plumber." I didn't even step forward and he stepped away from me. "Everything you've ever wanted, isn't it, Kevin?" I was now spitting out words and things I knew about him. I kept advancing and i was right up on him. "You're not the same person as you were last year. You don't need to be in New York."

His eyes were hazy now, swept over with a fog of confusion. They cleared up quickly, blazing with an inferno of anger and boiling rage. "That's what you don't get," he said, voice a bit harsh now. "You don't know New York. And if you know about Melody, let me just tell you that it's not all about her, Gwen. It's that Carson and Mandy are my family and they called on me to help them and to save them. I could save the universe with the Plumbers, sure. But if Mandy and Carson die in New York while I'm following my dreams with my head in the clouds, the blood is still on my hands and I could never live down the guilt." His fists were clenched at his sides. "Nothing is ever about what I want anymore, Gwen. It used to be, but you and Ben changed that. I have to do this for the people I care about. For New York."

My heart was pounding in my chest. I thought it was going to rise in my throat and that I was going to choke on it. "Kevin, we can-"

"It's all illegal." His eyes were narrowed and glaring. This wasn't Kevin. It couldn't be. But somehow, I had a feeling it was him. His loyalty had always been stronger than his desires. One was his head, one was his heart. And I had a sinking feeling that he was going with both on this choice. "You and Ben would be on the run for the rest of your lives. You would be scavenging food off the streets and suffering cold winters and moving planets every three days." His features softened, but only for a moment. A familiar shy smile crossed his perfect lips. "I couldn't put you two through that." A twinkle appeared in his obsidian eyes. "That's my life, not yours."

"You don't have to go through it again," I murmured, now finding myself defenseless against him. He was only doing what he thought was best for everyone. Mandy, Carson, and Melody would be safe with him as protection. Ben and I would be fine. We always had the rookies nearby if we needed assistance in a fight. And he was going to be off again in the life he wanted to forget. The only person this decision would hurt would be him. He could take that pain and bottle it up. He could do that. I knew he was capable of it. And I hated to admit it, but he was right. New York was the only option.

Kevin stared down at me still, eyes almost sad, grief sweeping over his blackened gaze. One of his pale, calloused hands reached out for my throat. And instinctively, I flinched, but didn't pull myself out of reach. And after my immediate reaction, I opened one eye and found him fingering the locket around my neck. "After all we've been through," he breathed, "you still wear this little necklace."

I swallowed hard, trying not to let my emotions get the best of me. I had to fight back the sobs and the soft cries of pain that kept creeping up on me. I had to blink back the icy cold tears hat blurred my vision. I had to keep my face grave, not upset. My emotions wouldn't get me this time. If Kevin could bottle them up and hide them, I could too. "I'll always wear it, Kevin." My heart kept pounding in my chest, harder than ever. I could've sworn it would've exploded. "I love you."

In the shortest moment I could ever imagine, Kevin broke. I saw his precisely chiseled features just shatter into a million pieces at my words, ripping him in three between love, loyalty, and desires. He closed his eyes for the longest time and I saw his face composing itself again, the defenses going up, this time weaker than before. He wasn't recovering anytime soon now. I just made everything a million times harder on him. And he just said, "I'm so sorry, Gwen."

It hit me like a ton of bricks and my body went numb with the pain of understanding. His decision wasn't changing.

A flash of white and black in the garage caught my eye. The numbness only deepened. Melody was right there the whole time, just inside the garage, listening to every word that just passed between Kevin and I.

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**A/N: dundundun duuuuuunnnn! Haha! So anyways, let's just say you've got four more chapters to read. Enjoy them while you can. Thanks for reading and leave a review please!**

**~Sky**


	19. Torn

**A/N: so I have to finish up some of my things. And I mean, ASAP. This will be started… okay, there's no way I'll finish- well maybe. I'll try. Kevin's POV**

**Disclaimer: own Melody, Carson and Mandy**

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'_There's a lot that you don't notice  
__When you read between the lines.  
__The future's out of focus  
__When you're blinded by the light.  
__There's a hope for all the hopeless  
__In the worst of trying times.  
__I'll resort to being speechless  
_'_Cause our love won't survive.'  
__~'Don't Speak', Jonas Brothers_

**Torn**

I tried to keep them apart. I know how controlling Gwen is and I know Melody would feel bad for stepping into the picture if she knew. So I tried to keep my redhead and my song apart. I needed them both to survive, but they were both different parts of me.

Gwen was the reflection of the greater good that seemed to be shining in my eyes these days.

Melody was the dark past that had given me the biggest rush of adrenaline I could ever receive from anything and anywhere.

The two worlds didn't mix. One was pure bliss and the other was my own fun zone. Fun and bliss aren't meant to be together in the same place. Especially not together.

And there were different reasons I liked each of them.

Gwen was my challenge. She was that little dare inside of me that wanted to reach the challenge's final destination. I had to be with her and I had to kiss her and I wanted her so bad because it was part of me. She was learning about me just as much as I was learning about her.

She was changing me. She was turning me into who I wanted to be. She was who I wanted to have by my side. She was the perfect one, the one who would never let me go back to my old life.

The old life was Melody.

Mel was my love. She was "the one". She was the one who would sneak into my room at night before we were sharing one and curl up next to me, knowing very well she would get Hell from Carson in the morning when he opened his eyes and saw the two of us against each other. It wasn't like we did anything.

She knew me inside out and I _loved_ her. She was the first one. She was the one who I wanted forever. She was the one I didn't think I could live without. I went back to dealing tech when I thought she was dead because it kept me from crying myself to sleep at night. If I was dealing, I couldn't sleep. If I couldn't sleep, I couldn't cry. And dealing got me back in the loop with Ben and Gwen and that kind of led us into our situation now.

There's a dangerous, burning darkness to every love story. That's another thing Melody brought to me.

I knew Melody was there the whole time. I just didn't know what Gwen was going to say. I didn't think that Gwen would say that. If I had known, I would've stopped her at the first word and told her that I had to go back to New York and it wasn't because of Melody.

My decisions aren't based around love anymore. They're based on what's right.

And I know what's right now. Gwen showed me what's right.

I knew Gwen had spotted Melody when her brilliant emerald gaze flickered just over my shoulder. Melody had been listening. I didn't expect her not to.

"Kevin, can you please just listen to me?" begged Gwen, her voice breaking slowly as the tears welled in those sparkling jade eyes. "Please." She was desperate and it was showing. "Melody isn't who you think she is. Carson and Mandy know so much more, but they won't tell you because you won't believe them and they're scared you'll turn on them to defend her."

I wanted to glare at her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had to treat her the way she deserved for the last moments we'd be together. "Gwen, I've known Melody longer than you two and Mandy and Carson will always come first to me. Loyalty is stronger than love. That's what you and Ben showed me."

"This isn't funny. Just listen to me, please." I was afraid she was going to fall to her knees any second now. She was shaking and the tears were spilling and she looked like she was about to collapse. "I don't want to see you do the wrong thing."

"Just because you don't like what I'm doing to save my family doesn't mean you have to lie about them." The snarl ripped loose before I could control it. I was sneering at her and I could feel it. My eyes were still glaring and I couldn't help it. "Mandy and Carson are like family and Melody is so much more to me than you could ever imagine, Gwen. You don't understand everything."

With that, I looked over my shoulder to see Melody standing in the faint sunlight. Her hands were behind her back, fingers clearly intertwined. The silver mane that was a halo on her was glowing like the stars in the night sky, the black streaks of radiant darkness standing out even more. Her innocent blackened orbs were trained on me and Gwen, but there was an unrecognizable emotion in them. One I hadn't seen before in Melody. Not in such a calm situation at least.

Rage.

I stared at her for a long moment before saying, "Mel, don't worry, I can take care of this." I gave her a soft smile, hoping it'd get her to go hide inside the garage again so that she wasn't seen or heard.

She was quaking.

A flash of orange caught on the edge of my vision. Carson. Mandy and Ben were with him. "Kev, you have to listen to her. Gwen's right. Something is up with Melody."

I felt my fists clenched and my nails digging into my palms. I couldn't understand why I was suddenly so defensive. I couldn't understand why they were so upset with her. She was mine and no one else had the right to judge her. Anger swept over my features. "Prove it."

Mandy stepped towards me. "Why would we lie to you, Kevin?"

"I don't know. Why would Melody lie to me?"

They said nothing.

I felt myself ready to lash out at all of them for accusing Melody of something that she clearly didn't do. "You don't know who she is."

"No, you don't know who she is," came Gwen's quivering voice. I looked back at her, the tears wiped from her eyes and those emerald orbs determined like I'd never seen them before. "But I know who you are. And you're not the same guy anymore. I'm sure of that."

My body was being torn in two. Melody or Gwen. My song or perfection. The fun zone or the bliss. I dropped to my knees, holding my head, hoping it could make sense of this if I held it together. I thought my brain was going to explode out of my skull. The pain began reverberating through me. I felt the fierce side trying to rip its way out in my moment of weakness.

I was never like this. I was never broken down. Never.

Gwen _loved_ me.

I _loved_ Melody.

And in all this turmoil and confusion and drama, Melody was somehow in the center, not me. She was the accused and I was the apparent victim. And I didn't even know it.

"Kevin?" came Mandy's voice. She sounded distant and weak against the raging storm in my head. My eyes were shut tight and I was on my knees, my jeans against the rough gravel. I felt Gwen kneeling next to me, asking if I was okay.

Then she was suddenly gone from my side and all I could see was the bright orange glow coming from outside of my eyelids. The color of Carson's mana.

"He's lost control. He's too torn to do anything now." Carson's voice seemed to be switching from being directed at Gwen and then to Melody, but it was still strong and harsh as always. "You guys confused his head and his heart too badly. Now the two are fighting it out as his inner demons."

I could hear Gwen in the back of my mind, faintly calling my name. It was registering and I could make out that she was calling my name in desperation, trying to get to me to help. I could hear her fist pounding against the orange mana bubble.

"If I let him out," said Carson, continuing, "he'll destroy everyone and everything within range." There was a short pause. "It's up to him now. He's got to choose."

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**A/N: still got 2 chappies left guys. Hope you enjoyed this chappie and review or else I won't write the last ones!**

**~Sky**


	20. Decisions To Make

**A/N: Just to tell you guys, the answer has actually been in this fic all along. Many have wanted MelodyxKevin and many have wanted Gwevin, but the ending was really planned all along. I was confused for a little bit, but I realized I should keep it the way I originally had it. so if you'd like, go back and find where I had the answer. It's all in the music.**

**Gwen's POV**

**Disclaimer: I own Melody, Carson and Mandy**

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_"A melody comes suddenly  
A lovesick song for the symphony  
I write these words to catch your ear  
And the world will sing along for you my dear  
But you take it, you forget  
I know, I know, I'm losin' it  
'cause you waste it on regret  
The time, the moment that we met  
Get out of my head, radio song  
Get out of my head, radio song  
Let's pretend that this never happened"  
~'Radio Song', Days Difference_

**Decisions to Make**

I stared hopelessly at Kevin, feeling the tears rushing to my eyes, threatening to flood over if the dam broke. My hair was falling over my shoulders and into the dusty gravel as I sank to my knees as I tried to get to Kevin. My fists kept beating against the mana bubble, knowing all too well that it wouldn't fall. Carson's powers were better developed and controlled than mine. And my bare fists were nothing compared to Anodite powers.

The bubble's brightly glowing color was fading as I heard the upset and near crying voice of Melody singing her low and mournful song. Her voice was slow and deliberate, pain emanating clearly in her tone.

_"We all fall down  
Down to the ground  
We all fall down  
So no more are around"_

I watched as her tune took down my cousin and Mandy and Carson, making them all crumple to the ground. Her voice had made me weak at my knees, but I was able to resist, my palm still pressed to the mana bubble as if my life had depended on it. But it faded as I saw Carson's ocean blue gaze disappear seconds later, the orange color of his mana dying in his eyes.

Kevin bent over, crying and moaning softly in agony but no tears falling. His limbs were quaking and I could feel the pain rolling off of him in cold waves of sorrow.

Melody's deep onyx eyes found mine and we were locked in a moment of hatred for the longest time before I saw a tear slide down her ghostly white cheek. Her eyes glistened with more moisture and I knew she was suffering just as much as I was.

We were both about to lose the most important thing in our lives.

Kevin.

The wind swept her hair and the hem of her dress off to the left side of her body and I could see how small and fragile she truly was. And I could see what Kevin saw in her.

She had skin paler than mine and her white hair was pristine and perfect with the streaks of black measure to perfection as the raven color complimented the rest of her white glory. Her eyes were the same color as Kevin's. Dark orbs of cold and quiet obsidian.

I had seen them intertwined on that couch inside the garage before. The way he looked so happy with her. The way they were together. And my jealousy had spiked almost immediately. Because someone else was with the guy I wanted. And maybe because she had something that I didn't have with Kevin.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Kevin and I weren't perfect for each other.

I felt tears clouding my vision, but I could tell that Melody was slowly coming closer to me, her lithe form like a ghost floating over a frozen lake, the water still and cold as ice.

I glanced over to Ben's limp form, lying on the other side of Carson. On the other side of him was Mandy, her chest heaving to breathe against Melody's power. Being only human, she was the weakest no matter what. I couldn't imagine how she felt, surrounded by the most powerful beings in the entire universe all the time and only being able to fire a laser at best. And with Melody's powers against her...

Her black and white form was lingering over me, her tears streaking down her porcelain cheeks. Her hair hung limp and lifeless around her face as she stood there like a frozen ghost.

"Gwen..." came her soft and sweet voice, quaking and shaking as my name left her pale pink tinted lips. The wet trails on her face from the tears glistened as I stared up at her, not sure whether to be scared or heartbroken.

I didn't say a word. Instead, I felt a scowl cross my lips, but I remained still, lying against the ground because of what the invisible force of her voice had done earlier. Knocked me down but not out. One elbow propped me off the gravel ground as the other arm was tucked tightly to my side.

"Please understand that this isn't for me," she whimpered, watching me pitifully with those eyes as dark and cold as a night with no stars. "I don't want him to keep him away from you, I swear." Her voice still shook as if she were a leaf caught in a strong wind, only holding to the thin limb by a thread. "I couldn't pull him away from this life he has here if more lives didn't depend on him."

"Kevin's changed," I growled, finding the words practically erupting from me. My gaze was a steady glare. "He knows he has to save lives. It's part of being a hero."

"But you didn't understand why he was going," she told me. "I heard you earlier. You only think it's about me." Her expression softened. "It's about our family, Gwen. It's about Carson and Mandy just as much. They rely on him to lead where they fail. It's been a year since we had him and we fell from the top of the food chain to the darkest pits of the city. He's the rock that holds us together." Another tear streaked down her face. "It's not always what it seems. It never is."

I tried to prop myself up further so I could get into a fighting position, but the invisible force pressed harder, my body aching under the weight. "Kevin knows what's righ-"

"And you wouldn't listen to him," she breathed. She sounded so scared although I knew she could easily overpower me if she tried. "He was trying to tell you the whole time that it wasn't for me." Her lower lip quivered. "He wouldn't do that, no matter how much I wanted him to."

"You're controlling him," I hissed, finding my voice fierce enough to crush bones. My mana flared at my fingertips, a bright pink glow casting over everything within my grasp. I felt my nails digging into my palm and my teeth were clenched. "He wouldn't want to leave me. Not like this."

"I was trying to keep you safe," she cried, fighting as hard as possible to hold back the tears. "He loves you and I know he does, but trust me, I'm doing this for everyone. I'm saving Mandy and Carson. You and your cousin, too. I could never do this any other way. I don't want to hurt anyone." The wind continued to sweep her hair across her perfect face. Her dress was floating as if she were falling in midair. "Especially not Kevin. I care for him too much."

"Leave him to make his own decisions," I hissed. I couldn't believe her powers were holding me back. But my mana was still working. Yet I couldn't find the heart to attack her. Not yet anyways. "Kevin knows how to handle himself."

"He _is _making his own decisions," she whimpered. "And that's why I'm not controlling him, Gwen." Her eyes flared with the pain of loss. "He's willingly coming to New York with us." Her words faltered for a moment and I barely heard her murmur a bit more under her breath.

"And that's why _you_ want to control him."

My heart thundered inside of me. The pain of being wrong rang clear in my head. She was being honest. She was actually taking him away from me. But because he was agreeing to it. The mana died on my hands and I let her powers press me down into the gravel as if someone had just dropped and elephant on my chest. I was losing Kevin. Because I had taught him loyalty came first and saving lives came first. Now being a hero was taking him away from me just as fast as it had brought him to me.

Kevin was really leaving me. For New York.

Not Melody.

She put a hand over her mouth, fear resonating through her features as sobs racked her slender body. "I'm so sorry, Gwen." One of her thin hands reached out towards me and her pale pink lips parted.

The blood in my veins turned to ice. She was going to take care of me. So I didn't make this difficult for her. I winced, her powers pressing me to the ground, leaving me immobile and frozen. She didn't have another option other than taking me out. I was the only thing standing in the way of her and Kevin making a clean getaway with Mandy and Carson so they could all go back to New York and be one happy family again.

A dark form came from behind her and all I could see in the shadow was the fall of the graceful white ghost, Melody's lithe body collapsing to the left side of me, falling to the gravel in a puff of dirty gray dust. Her dark eyes vanished under her eyelids as she slipped gently into unconsciousness.

My gaze turned from her up to the shadow that was still standing above me like a dark knight. A pair of onyx eyes were focused on me.

All I heard was Kevin's unsure voice with a slight quake to it as he held out his hand to me as an offering of help. "It looked like she was going to hurt you..."

I smiled up at him before taking his hand and throwing my arms around his neck. At last, my own tears were set free and Kevin held me tightly, like I was the last thing left on earth.

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**A/N: One more chappie and then this is finished! If you'd like, try to find the answer before it actually happened. It's all in the music. AND DON'T YOU DARE FORGET TO REVIEW!**

**~Sky**


	21. Epilogue

**A/N: I'm struggling with figuring out how to write this one and that's why it was so long in coming. I know what I want to happen, but the hard part is figuring out how I want to write it… Kevin's POV**

**Disclaimer: own Mandy, Carson, and Melody. You may not use them without my consent.**

_'And I am done with your twisted symphony  
The words that had me, selling stolen poetry  
__I tore the pages and I can finally breathe'  
__~'Everything You're Not', Demi Lovato_

**Epilogue**

I took a deep breath after waving to my mom as I made my way down the front steps of her house. I had locked up the garage that she had let me live in and made my way to the car. I quietly tossed my duffel bag into the backseat before dropping into the driver's seat.

"Are you sure about this, Kevin?" asked Gwen, looking over to her boyfriend with soft and worried eyes. "I trust you, but do you really want to go back to New York again?"

"Gwen," I sighed with a smile, looking over at her lovingly. "You know that I have to. It's for my friends. They're the closest thing I have to family other than my mom and you and Ben." I reached over and took her hand in mine and gave it a slight squeeze. "They're family. You know how I am about that."

She leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder. "I know," she breathed softly, her body curling delicately into mine as I shifted the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. "You're such a… a chivalrous man, Kevin Ethan Levin." She leaned up and kissed my cheek softly.

I snickered for a short moment before craning my neck to kiss her crown of fiery scarlet. "If I knew what that meant, this would be easier." I wrapped one arm around her as I steered the car down the street that led to the garage. "But I'm assuming it's something nice, so I'll just take it and run."

"That's how you are," she said, one of her hands on my bicep. "Just take it and run."

"And you'll take care of the garage for me while I'm gone?" I asked, hoping that she could do the basic things to keep it clean. Just washing the tools when needed. Keep it clean-ish. Not letting Ben in even when he begged. "And check up on my mom?"

Gwen nodded with a smile still dancing across her lips. "Of course. You know I'll take care of the garage and I'll have Ben drop me off at your mom's at least once a week so I can just hang out with her for a little while. You said your step-dad won't be home, right?"

"I'll make sure he won't be around when you go visit. And I promise I will call you every chance I get."

"You'd better," she said, eyes slightly narrowed, but in a playful way with a warm glimmer in them. I knew she wasn't serious. But if she was, I'd be in some serious trouble with her for not calling. But I knew I'd call her every day. No questions asked.

The car found its own way to the garage, the wheel in my careful hand even though I was hardly focusing on the road. We pulled into the large structure and I pulled the keys out of the slot, killing the engine instantly.

Gwen pulled herself away from me with a soft and seductive smile and got out the passenger side door, closing it harshly behind her. She didn't want me to go.

Loyalty was one thing she taught me. It was the one thing that was going to stick with me. I pulled the handle and pushed open the car door, closing it tightly behind me and turning to see Mandy laying across the couch with some sort of hackie-sack in her hands and Carson sitting nearby twirling a wrench between his worn and calloused fingers.

Melody retreated from the backroom and came out into the light. "We ready to get outta here?" she asked, her eyes flicking from me to Gwen and then over to Mandy and Carson. "I wanna go fight some Knights before our lives are over." She flipped her platinum white hair over one shoulder, jeans hanging at her hips limply. She wore one of my old faded blue flannel shirts, a hair tie holding it back so that it was tight against her body.

"Yup," I said, putting a hand on the hood of the car. "Just gotta pack everyone in, drop Gwen off at her place and then we're off to the city."

The redhead's eyes fell to me for a moment, betraying her longing to go with.

Slowly, Carson pulled Mandy off the couch after she tossed the hackie-sack at his head with a smile. Melody migrated to the backseat of the car and crashed there with Mandy and Carson piling in right after her.

Gwen smiled at me warmly one last time before stepping into the passenger seat of the car and closing it behind her.

I stared around the garage, feeling a hole in my heart growing faster than I could stop it. I looked at the dark shadows, staring around the darkness. I had my necessary toolbox in the trunk along with enough tech to last Mandy some time in a fight. Ammo was stacked up high in the back.

Slowly, I dropped myself into the driver's seat and stuck the key back in the ignition. The engine fired up and I grinned to myself, seeing Mandy enjoying whacking Carson in the head with her hackie-sack. Melody just smiled with her arms folded across her chest.

Gwen blinked at me, her hopes and wishes being sent to me in her soft emerald gaze.

I pulled out of the garage, knowing another crazy journey was about to start the second we left Bellwood. Or maybe even the second after we dropped Gwen off.

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**A/N: check the lyrics on the prologue and then on this. The story was there all along. ^.^ review. The next story will be up when I get around to it and after I finish up on other things. Thanks for reading! I love you all!**

**~Sky **


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